In the Netherlands, general road safety measures of the past ten years have also had favourable effects for novice drivers, but they have meant no extra improvement for this group. Young, novice drivers had, and still have, a greater accident rate than all other age groups. Therefore, the Dutch Ministry of Transport wishes to examine which likely measures can be taken to improve the safety of novice drivers. Research has lead to a choice of likely measures. The following criteria have been used in the consideration: (i) which effect from the measure is to be expected; (ii) under which conditions can public support be obtained for the measure; and (iii) what are the implications for the law and its maintenance. The choices and considerations were made together with various interested parties. The following recommendations for measure as a result of this cooperation were made: (a) Create legal room to conduct experiments in measures regarding driving licences; (b) Strengthen traffic education in secondary schools; (c) Optimize the basic driving instruction, among other things, by establishing national guidelines for content and didactics; (d) Introduce a graduated driving licence, containing the following parts: (1) a lower alcohol limit; (2) a Driver Improvement Alcohol Programme for Novice Drivers; and (3) start an education course after getting the driving licence; and (e) study the possibilities of accompanied driving as a method of exercise. Two appendices were published as separate documents, namely: Appendix I: inventory, based on expert meetings (In Dutch: Bijlage I: inventarisatie, gebaseerd op expertmeetings), under Serial Number R-98-63A; and Appendix II: feasibility analysis: report about process, outcomes and products (In Dutch: Bijlage II: haalbaarheidsanalyse: verslaglegging over proces, uitkomsten en produkten), under Serial Number R-98-63B.
Samenvatting