Written evidence submitted by the Alliance of British Drivers (RSY0021)

• In response to the Transport Committee’s initial call for evidence on improving road safety, the ABD stressed the need for better training of all road users from an early age.  The ABD is pleased that the scope of the inquiry has been widened to include young and novice drivers, as we believe we can shed new light on the reasons for their high accident involvement and how to address it.
• This supplementary evidence draws heavily on the work of Stephen Haley, the author of Mind Driving1, in which he explains why the ways drivers think and their attitudes to risk are the most important factors in determining their safety on the roads.  He has also written a series of papers that explain the difficulties faced by young and novice drivers in the period immediately after passing the driving test2,3,4,5,6.  These can be downloaded from his website (www.skilldriver.org).
• While young drivers have a high crash risk, that risk falls sharply during their first two years of driving.  This is because new drivers are being forced to think for themselves and are beginning to manage risk.  In an unstructured way, specific skills are being gained that are about hazard control and making risk safe.  This area of competence is currently neglected in learner training, which is the core weakness that creates the casualties.
• The key skills that experience builds can be taught.  If the following three topics were introduced into pre-test tuition, the risks to novice drivers would be reduced dramatically:

1. Mental skills and how these work alongside vehicle control and the Highway Code to achieve good and safe driving.
2. Risk management, by teaching the active control of danger.
3. Teaching pupils how to learn from experience.

• The ABD does not support restrictions on novice drivers, such as limiting the number of passengers they can carry or prohibiting them from driving at certain times of the day.  While peer pressure from young passengers can encourage new drivers to behave unsafely, teaching them to resist this pressure should be part of their risk management tuition.
• A change of attitude is required within the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, which sees driving after the test as behaviour to be controlled rather than skills to be developed.  The ABD strongly supports the adoption of a positive approach to post-test training, based on the principles set out in Mind Driving.

1.   Introduction

1.1              The Alliance of British Drivers (ABD) campaigns for a better deal for Britain’s motorists.  It is a voluntary organisation funded by subscriptions and donations from members and supporters.  The ABD receives no funds from public bodies or private-sector businesses, so is truly independent.  It is a member of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety and the National Council of Voluntary Organisations.  It is also a member of Transport Focus’s Road User Panel.

1.2              The ABD responded to the Transport Committee’s initial call for evidence concerning road safety policies, in which it stressed the need for better training of all road users from an early age.  It is delighted that the scope of the inquiry has been extended to the issue of young and novice drivers, who have a much higher risk of being involved in accidents than more experienced ones.  In this supplementary evidence, the ABD believes it can shed new light on the reasons for young drivers’ increased accident risk and how to tackle them.

1.3              The ABD’s supplementary evidence is drawn extensively from the work of Stephen Haley (www.skilldriver.org), with whom the ABD has worked for many years.  He is the author of Mind Driving1, which is approved and recommended by the Driving Instructors Association.  It explains why the ways drivers think and their attitudes to risk are the most important factors in determining their safety on the roads.

1.4              Mr Haley has also developed an extraordinary insight into the workings of young people’s brains, especially those of young men.  He has published a series of five papers on his website2,3,4,5,6 that explain the difficulties faced by young and novice drivers in the period immediately after passing the driving test.  It is strongly recommended that members of the committee download and read these papers, as well as Mind Driving itself.

2.               Why are young and novice drivers at higher risk of accidents?

2.1                While it is true that new drivers have a high crash risk, that risk falls sharply during the initial two years of driving7.  This suggests that novices are learning for themselves something they were not taught during their pre-test training.  However, research shows that key behaviours get slightly but steadily worse during the first three years of driving8.  This is about specific driving violations and hazard involvement that have been linked to crash liability.  These behaviours are vital to safety, but improving them is not a route that novices are using to help themselves3.

2.2                What is actually happening is that new drivers are being forced to think for themselves and are beginning to manage risk.  In a chaotic, unplanned way, specific skills are being gained that are about hazard control and making risk safe.  This is how novices achieve the falling crash rate.  This area of competence is currently neglected in learner training, which is the core weakness that creates the casualties3.

2.3                It is an oft-repeated saying that “You really learn to drive after passing the test.” None of the changes made to driver training over the years has altered this perception.  The fact that this belief continues to be held is an indictment of the failings of the current training regime.  Novices get no meaningful guidance about their period of self-learning after the test: what it should contain or how to do it. This ensures a process of experimental trial-and-error.  The post-test experience should be a smooth continuation of their test preparation3.

3.              How should driver training be reformed?

3.1                The key skills that experience builds can most definitely be taught.  Introducing the following three topics into pre-test tuition would dramatically reduce novice risk and the disconnection in post-test driving:

• Mental skills – explain why safety is mainly about using mental skills.  Describe how these skills work alongside the traditional focus on vehicle control and the Highway Code to achieve real, good and safe driving.  This extends far beyond proposals to introduce training on ‘attitude’.
• Risk management – teach the active control of danger.  Use a realistic model of how risk behaves and can be controlled (such as the Speed, Surprise, Space model9).  The current hazard perception test falls far short of this but could be developed to make a much better connection to real driving.
• Learning from experience – teach pupils how to learn from their experience. This is a skill in its own right and is readily teachable to improve the speed and usefulness of learning.  Vitally, it places the mechanism for lifelong learning within the drivers themselves.  Most drivers, of all ages, waste their experience by only learning (if at all) from obvious severe events such as crashes or near misses.

3.2              These are some of the critical revelations that new drivers are struggling to work out for themselves in a stumbling voyage of discovery.  But drivers should be using these tools and skills from the start, not trying to reinvent them.  If they were properly taught, it is even possible that new drivers could be safer than the current average on the road3.

4.                Should restrictions be placed on novice drivers?

4.1                It has been suggested that new drivers could be subjected to restrictions during a probationary period.  These could limit the number of passengers they can carry or be prohibited from driving at certain times of the day. 

4.2                There is no doubt that young drivers, especially men, can be susceptible to peer pressure from passengers of their own age to drive unsafely.  Conversely, adult passengers have a restraining influence5.  As with other aspects of driving, however, youngsters can be taught skills on how to resist peer pressure and, in the case of passengers, how to ‘survive’ a young driver4,5.

4.3                The ABD does not, therefore, support restrictions on novice drivers but would prefer education on resisting peer pressure to be included in driver tuition.  Banning youngsters from doing risky things might seem to be an easy and obvious solution, but it would hold them back and feel unfair to them.  It stunts their development and is likely to surface as resentment elsewhere5.

4.4                A major barrier to improving post-test learning is the attitude of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), which sees driving after the test as behaviour to be controlled (external) rather than skills to be developed (internal).  A fundamental change of approach is needed if young drivers are to acquire the skills they need to be safe on the roads.  The ABD hopes that the outcome of this inquiry will be the adoption of a positive approach to post-test training, based on the recommendations above and the principles set out in Mind Driving.

August 2019

7.                References

1.                Stephen Haley, Mind Driving – new skills for staying alive on the road.  2006.

2.                Stephen Haley, Young Drivers – Adult Responsibility.

3.                Stephen Haley, Learning to Drive – the Stubborn Truth.

4.                Stephen Haley, Peer Pressure – Driving Under the Influence.

5.                Stephen Haley, Young Drivers and Deadly Passengers.

6.                Stephen Haley, Teaching Young Men to Drive.

7.                Department for Transport, Cohort II: A Study of Learner and New Drivers, DfT Research Report 81, May 2008, pp131-2.

8.                Department for Transport, Cohort II: A Study of Learner and New Drivers, DfT Research Report 81, May 2008, pp123-5.

9.                Stephen Haley, Mind Driving – new skills for staying alive on the road, pp129-183.