The Role of Driver Education in the Licensing Process in Quebec

Problem. In many jurisdictions, driver education (DE) graduates, compared to non-graduates, are granted a time-discount that allows them to drive unsupervised several months earlier, despite little evidence of a safety benefit and consistent evidence of increased crash risk. Confounding factors may be threatening the validity of DE evaluations. A theoretical framework called the “licensing process” (LP) is proposed to identify and explore potential confounding factors in DE evaluations.

Method. Prospective study data on a cohort of 1804 novice drivers 16 to 19 years of age of both sexes are analyzed in relation to the LP framework. These data derive from two sources that were linked together: an extensive questionnaire on learning methods, risk-taking, and lifestyles, and government records on exam performance, violations, and crashes.

Results. Violation and crash records are not associated with DE attendance. DE attendance is associated with younger ages, greater financial support from family, and fewer hours of supervised driving practice with a learner's permit. For both sexes, more hours of supervised driving practice with a learner's permit is associated with increased crash risk. Most participants, particularly males under 19 years of age, attended DE partly or entirely to save time or money; these motivations are associated with higher violation and crash rates.

Discussion. DE evaluations need to identify and control for potential confounding factors. Research is needed to understand the associations between increased crash risk and potential confounding factors like motivation to attend DE and hours of supervised driving practice.

Keywords:

• Adolescent Drivers
• Driver Education
• Crash Risk
• Motivation
• Experience
• GDL

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The bulk of the research was made possible by a joint grant from the Ministère du transports de Québec (MTQ) and the Societé de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) administered by the Fonds pour la formation de chercheurs et l'aide à la recherché (Fonds FCAR, now the Fonds de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies, FQRNT) under the Programme de recherche universitaire en sécurité routière (MTQ and SAAQ). Additional financial support was provided by the Faculté des études superieures (FES), the Centre for Research on Transportation (CRT), and the Groupe de recherche interdisciplinaire en santé (GRIS).

Notes

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¹χ² with 4 df. p < .01

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