Fact Sheet 16 - Safer Road Users - Post-licence driver training and education

Carefully designed education/training courses, one-on-one driver assessments and group workshops can help drivers identify their strengths and weaknesses and improve driving behaviour.

Queensland Transport (2008) advises that almost one quarter of all work-related fatalities occur on roads and that in Australia road crashes are the most common cause of work-related death, injury and absence from work.

With employers obliged to provide a safe working environment and make efforts to minimise risk to health and safety for employees (Australian Transport Council 2008, p45) and an increasing trend towards making the car a de facto office known as ‘mobile working’ (Townsend and Avenoso 2008, p34), employers and fleet managers would also benefit from their employees undergoing further driver education and/or training.

This is an area with promising potential to instigate change and create a safe driving culture, as employers generally have a high level of control over staff who drive for work (Business Motoring 2003). The adoption of policies for safe driving practices provides the means by which employers and fleet operators can incorporate further training and education for their employees where required.

Employers are in a position to promote higher standards than are required by road traffic law (Australian Transport Council 2008, p45). Education offered by employers could therefore recognise driving as an important workplace skill and raise the level of safe driving (Townsend and Avenoso 2008, p34).

Unfortunately, there is a link between increased skill and increased risk-taking, a phenomenon called optimum bias or unrealistic optimism (Job 1992). For example, if taught emergency braking or swerving procedures, some drivers may believe they are better than average and practice such advanced tasks at inappropriate times and locations. Thus, the driver may be twice or four times as likely to get out of a crash situation, but ten times more likely to allow themselves to get into it (Job 1992).

Therefore, with any encouragement of drivers to seek further driver training and education, there needs to be safeguards in place so that drivers do not become overconfident in their own abilities. Post-licence driver training and/or education should emphasise the cognitive aspects of the driving task, i.e., the need for driver awareness and concentration, hazard perception, risk assessment, alertness, appropriate behaviour and attitude.

Education courses in the form of driver improvement or rehabilitation programs may also be of use as an alternative penalty for recidivist offenders, provided that such courses can be shown to reduce crash involvement and traffic violations for those who attend.

RACQ Driver Education offers drivers a range of services and programs to check for any driving weaknesses and improve the individual’s driving behaviour. These range from a one-on-one driver assessment to a full-day driver education program.

A large number of RACQ members support re-testing of drivers for written road rules knowledge at least every 10 years, and so there is also a need for drivers to have access to education/refresher resources such as the RACQ Refresh handbook, should such a requirement be introduced.

Priorities: Post-licence driver training and education

1. Encourage employers and fleet managers to develop and implement a safe driving policy that outlines the employer’s and employee’s responsibilities and expectations in relation to organisational practices concerning all aspects relating to the safe driving of vehicles (including vehicle selection, driver training and education, driver management, monitoring of fleet safety performance and creating a cycle of continuous improvement).
   
   
2. Provide guidance and feedback to post-licence driver training and education providers to ensure that the process, methods, content and outcomes of their training programs reflect best practice.
   
   
3. Provide incentives to encourage drivers to refresh and update their knowledge and skills on a regular and continual basis by attending appropriate post-licence courses.
   
   
4. Develop and provide best practice driver improvement and rehabilitation programs for recidivist offenders, e.g., drink drivers.
   
   
5. Continue to research and evaluate how post-licence driver training and education can positively contribute to making safer drivers on our roads.
   
   
6. Consider the introduction of written road rules knowledge tests for drivers at least every 10 years, and ensure access to appropriate education/refresher materials, e.g., the RACQ Refresh handbook.

References

Australian Transport Council 2008, National Road Safety Action Plan 2009 and 2010, Australian Transport Council, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

Business Motoring 2003, ‘Creating a safety culture in vehicle fleets’ in Business Motoring, March 2003, p32.

Data Analysis Unit 2009, Queensland Road Toll Weekly Report: Report No: 575, Year to Date to Monday, 26 January 2009, Queensland Transport, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Job, R.F.S. 1992, ‘The Problem of Risk Taking with Increased Education and Skill’ from The Fourth Biennial Australasian Traffic Education Conference, Emu Press, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.

Market and Communications Research December 2008, RACQ Safety Policy. Survey: Quantitative Research Report, Market and Communications Research, Spring Hill, Queensland, Australia.

Queensland Transport 2008, Workplace fleet safety, Queensland Transport, Web Document, Accessed 16/02/09: http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/Home/Safety/Road/Motor_vehicle/Workplace/ Townsend, E. and Avenoso, A. 2008, "Road Safety as a right and responsibility for all": A Blueprint for the EU’s 4th Road Safety Action Programme 2010 – 2020, European Transport Safety Council, Brussels, Belgium.

Contact

For more information contact RACQ Traffic and Safety on 1300 853 658 or 07 3872 8925, or email traffic@racq.com.au.