This paper reviews some previous research on problems of younger drivers, and presents a project at the University of Nottingham, England, on the accidents of drivers aged 17-25. Specific problems of younger drivers, which have been researched worldwide, include darkness, speeding, single-vehicle accidents, overtaking on a bend with little visibility ahead, rear-end collisions and right turns. Having passengers in the vehicle decreases accident rates. It has always been difficult to separate the effects of driver age and driving experience. The study presented here included a six-month pilot study, and is due to be completed in July 2001, and uses only data from police road accident files. The data are input to a FileMaker Pro database adapted to handle the project's information and search parameters. Following the pilot analysis of 240 cases, the following types of accident were selected for further study: (1) accidents on rural roads involving loss of control on a bend; (2) right turns onto or off a major road; (3) rear-end collisions; and (4) accidents at night, with or without street lighting. The incidence of these types of accidents tended to decrease as age increased, and to be higher for young male than young female drivers. Young male drivers had a notable proportion of accidents on left bends.
Samenvatting