Abstract
Novice drivers are considered as the riskiest group of drivers due to caused accidents and injuries related to inexperience and propensity to take risks on the road. Thus, prospective analysis of importance of driving learning history for the novice drivers' future involvement in traffic violations or road accidents is extremely encouraged. This study is aimed to evaluate the importance of learning to drive experience and driving test (theory and on-road) performance for the prediction of objective traffic rules violations and later accident involvement in Lithuanian novice drivers. 598 learner drivers who obtained their driving licence for the first time participated in the longitudinal study. Information concerning their learning to drive experience before taking driving test, theory test and on-road driving test performance was obtained in the first stage of the study. Later information on the number of recorded traffic offenses committed by participants and number of accidents during the first year of their independent driving was obtained from the police records. The results showed that worse driving theory test performance, but not on-road driving test performance was related to the fact of being fined for traffic rules violations. While age and experience of learning to drive were not important predictors of being a traffic offender. Gender and length of independent driving were also important predictors for later traffic violations. This research was funded by a grant from the Research Council of Lithuania (grant No. GER-005/2015).
Highlights
Novice drivers are considered as the most vulnerable group of drivers all over the world (Boccara, Delhomme, Vida-Gomel, & Rogalski, 2011; de Winter, 2013)
Higher number of male novice drivers was fined for any traffic rules violations and more males were fined more than one time for these violations compared to female novice drivers
Those novice drivers, who were fined for any traffic rules violations, reported longer independent driving after being licensed (Mann Whitney U = 16701.00, p = .001)
Summary
Novice drivers are considered as the most vulnerable group of drivers all over the world (Boccara, Delhomme, Vida-Gomel, & Rogalski, 2011; de Winter, 2013). In Europe drivers aged from 16 to 24 years have 1.7 times more chances to die in an accident compared to other age groups and such high crash rates among novice drivers remain quite stable (Traffic Safety Basic Facts, 2016). Lithuania together with Poland, Romania and Bulgaria are leading countries of traffic injuries caused by novice drivers in Europe. In 2015 12.3 percent of all traffic accidents were caused by novice drivers with less than two years of experience of independent driving (Recorded accident statistics in Lithuania, 2016). Statistics show that novice drivers tend to violate traffic rules, which can increase the probability of accident on the road. The most common violations according to Lithuanian Police Service (2017) are speeding (78.8 percent of novice drivers), drunk driving (20 percent of them), and other different violations (2.2 percent)
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