Different age and gender groups typically use vehicles in a quite different way, and their experience and life circumstances are also different. If common ‘backgrounds’ can be identified for specific groups of drivers based on their risk behaviour, road safety policy makers and practitioners could use this information to develop new measures especially for those groups. In this chapter which describes the results of the SARTRE 3 survey we intend to examine differences and similarities between the different age and gender groups among the 23 European countries involved in the study, exam whether or not there has been an increase in the distinctive features of the youngest drivers since SARTRE 2, or if - on the contrary - there have been changes in this group, such as an increase in safety awareness and changes in attitudes and risky behaviours, which now make them closer to the standards of other, and safer, groups of drivers. The focus will be on how young drivers (of both sexes) differ in their perception of the road risk and self-reported behaviours from older age groups of drivers. Therefore, for the purposes of chapter, the term ‘younger driver’ refers to drivers aged 18-24, while ‘older drivers’ refers to drivers aged 25-39, 40–54 and 55 or over. (Author/publisher)
Abstract