Young drivers are vastly over-represented in road accident fatality and injury statistics. This problem causes great social and economic costs. While the causes of this problem are well known – and are related principally to inappropriate attitudes, inexperience, age and gender – a major challenge remains in identifying and implementing efficient countermeasures. Therefore, on January 1st 2003 the Two-phase education for novice drivers was implemented in Austria, to reach the challenging goal of halving fatal traffic accidents, set by the European Commissions´ White Paper. In 2006, the Austrian Road Safety Board decided to evaluate this measure in terms of accidents, attitudes and acceptance among young drivers. This paper gives an overview about the background and contents of the system (modules) as well as first results of the analysis of statistical accident data. Preliminary results show good effects in terms of accident involvement of young drivers, which seems to be a major issue especially for male drivers. Especially serious accidents are reduced in number. (Author/publisher)
Abstract