Learning to drive with parents and professionals : a conundrum resolved?

On the basis of an extensive survey evidence, Forsyth (1992) concluded that those who have some driving experience outside professional lessons are more likely to pass their driving test and that those who have substantial amounts of professional instruction are less likely to pass their driving test. This result has been replicated recently, also on the basis of a national survey, which showed that both male and female teenage drivers who passed or failed their first driving test differed reliably in the amount of professional instruction they had had (see Groeger & Brady, 2000). This replication is worthy of note since the original finding might possibly have arisen because of differences in a priori likelihood of passing the driving test because of gender, age or prior test experience. Over one hundred and eighty Surrey teenagers took part in this longitudinal study of learning to drive. At the time they joined the project they had not driven before. The commitment required of them at the outset was that they would remain in contact with the project until a few months after they had passed their driving test; that they would agree to be tested on a range of psychometric measures (e.g. intelligence and personality tests); that they would have their driving assessed regularly by us throughout the projectwhile undergoing a driving lesson given by their usual teacher; and that they would keep a 'driver diary' as they learned recording details of the day, time, distance, weather, lighting, purpose and passengers for each trip made where they drove. Inevitably in a project where people must actively participate for over a year in a project, a certain amount of missing data is to be expected, as is a reasonably high drop out rate. About one hundred drivers took a full part in the project, the records of the others are more incomplete, but still useful for a variety of other analytical purposes. This paper considers the performance of pupils in the assessment drives, how the errors made related to the amount of driving experience the pupil had had, and whether the experience they had had up to that point had been gained while driving with a professional instructor or family member. The central issues addressed here are whether academic success, intelligence or personality influences the type and amount of instruction pupils take, and whether the amount or mix of instruction influences how effectively pupils learn.