Shifting Approaches to Young Driver Safety in Great Britain
Addressing Young and Novice-Driver Safety in Great Britain: Developing a Systems-Based Approach
Earlier in 2017, Teresa Senserrick PhD, TARS Research Associate Professor, was invited by the RAC Foundation to deliver a keynote address at their London RAC Club for the Young Driver Futures conference. This provided an opportunity to meet with a wide range of young driver safety stakeholders from around the UK.
Teresa partnered with Neale Kinnear PhD from TRL (Transport Research Laboratory, UK) at this time to promote a broader 'systems thinking' approach to youth safety over a dominant focus on education initiatives and licence testing.
System thinking recognises that there are a multitude of influential actors within the broader road safety system that influence young driver safety. These span all levels of government and community groups to individual youth, their parents and peers, as well as physical road systems and vehicles. This shifts the focus on targeting interventions at individual youth to multiple wider alternative pathways.
The RAC Foundation report includes an initial mapping of the wide range of actors in the young driver road safety system in Great Britain. The intention is to stimulate new initiatives that move beyond traditional education and training programs. However, given these initiatives are prevalent in the UK, we also offer some practical ways to shift the focus of these to better align with current best practice and systems approaches.
Teresa partnered with Neale Kinnear PhD from TRL (Transport Research Laboratory, UK) at this time to promote a broader 'systems thinking' approach to youth safety over a dominant focus on education initiatives and licence testing.
System thinking recognises that there are a multitude of influential actors within the broader road safety system that influence young driver safety. These span all levels of government and community groups to individual youth, their parents and peers, as well as physical road systems and vehicles. This shifts the focus on targeting interventions at individual youth to multiple wider alternative pathways.
The RAC Foundation report includes an initial mapping of the wide range of actors in the young driver road safety system in Great Britain. The intention is to stimulate new initiatives that move beyond traditional education and training programs. However, given these initiatives are prevalent in the UK, we also offer some practical ways to shift the focus of these to better align with current best practice and systems approaches.
A free copy of the report article can be downloaded from the RAC Foundation website
