VicRoads has conducted a series of telephone surveys of learner permit holders and newly-licensed drivers to monitor the accumulation of supervised driving experience by Victorian learner permit holders. Surveys were conducted in 1999, 2000 and 2004. 1322 drivers from three stages of the learner permit period were interviewed about their supervised driving practice over the last week and professional lessons over the last four weeks. 209 newly-licensed drivers were interviewed about lessons and practice in the final weeks before passing the probationary licence test. Respondents were also asked about the variety of driving conditions experienced and about their experience of a variety of programs promoting the accumulation of at least 120 hours supervised driving experience by all learners before obtaining a probationary licence. The results of the survey revealed that the average amount of experience accumulated by learner permit holders before graduating to a probationary licence has increased by 9.5 per cent from 85.9 hours in 2000 to 94.1 hours in 2004. (Author/publisher)
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