Introduction: The New Zealand GDL includes a time-discount at the restricted license stage, for attendance at an approved driver education course. This is despite international evidence showing that earlier licensure associated with a time-discount can increase risk for newly licensed drivers.
Objective: To examine participation in driver education courses and especially those that qualify for a time-discount; compare the profiles of course participants with non-participants; examine reasons for participation; and examine the association between a time-discount and traffic offenses once fully licensed.
Method: This study was based on the New Zealand Drivers Study (NZDS), a prospective cohort study of newly licensed drivers. Data on driver education courses were obtained at the full license interview (n = 1763), driver license and traffic offense data from the NZ Driver Licence Registry, and other data at the NZDS interviews.
Results: 94% had heard of and 49% (n = 868) participated in a defensive driving course (DDC). No other course had more than 1% participation. Compared with the others, the DDC group were young, non-Māori, and from an area of relatively low deprivation. Through GDL, the DDC group were relatively more compliant with the conditions, and less likely to crash or receive a traffic offense notice. The groups did not differ on personality, alcohol and drug use. The reason most (85%) attended a DDC was to get their full license sooner; 86% (n = 748) received a time-discount. The time-discount group were 40% more likely to receive a traffic offense notice on their full license; this reduced to 10% after controlling for other factors.
Conclusion and practical implications: The results of this study, when viewed in conjunction with other NZ crash evidence, indicate that a time-discount should not be given for completing a DDC or Street Talk course.