The high rate of collision involvement amongst young drivers has been researched for many years, concluding that a mixture of inexperience and age-based behavioural differences could lead to increased young driver risk. In-depth research undertaken in 2012 by Road Safety Analysis (RSA) identified differences in risk, based on how rural the area is in which young drivers live. The report stated that: “Nationally, the research found that young drivers who are from rural areas are significantly over-represented within the collision statistics compared to their urban counterparts…..This would suggest that urban young drivers are involved in injury collisions slightly less often than we would have expected and that rural young drivers are 37% more likely to be involved in an injury collision than their urban counterparts.” The report concluded that further research ought to be undertaken to understand the factors leading to the increased risk of young drivers who live in rural areas, including looking “at home rurality against blood alcohol levels; contributory factors; vehicle manoeuvres; other vehicles involved; and to see if there are regional differences in collision involvement.” In November 2012, the National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs (NFYFC) launched their Drive It Home campaign, aimed at delivering road safety education and training to its members. RSA teamed up with NFYFC to undertake further analysis into the rural young driver issue and thereby assist in informing an refining the Drive It Home campaign. External funding for the research was awarded by the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund and Michelin Tyre PLC. This report, therefore, sets out analysis undertaken using MAST, an online analysis tool which combines casualty and collision data from the Department for Transport with socio-demographic insights created by Experian through Mosaic Public Sector. The postcodes of drivers and casualties involved in collisions are used to determine how rural their home area is and which Mosaic Groups and Types these individuals are likely to belong to as this can be used by road safety professionals to understand who needs to be targeted in road safety interventions. The report looks at differences in collision involvement between rural and urban young drivers and also rural and urban adult drivers. The intention of this report is to provide the road safety practitioner with a full understanding of the types of collision involving rural young drivers and to equip them with the tools to target the issue. The report works through a needs analysis by determining the what, when, where, how and who of rural young driver collisions (in comparison to the other 3 groups of urban young drivers, rural adult drivers and urban adult drivers). The needs analyses provide information on the topics and issues that could be focused upon within an intervention. A large part of the analysis focuses on profiling the rural young driver, with the aim of producing an insight that can be used to visualise the target audience. This insight is created using a variety of socio-demographic data, including looking at Indices of Multiple Deprivation, rurality and Mosaic Groups. External evidence from other research; from existing road safety schemes; and the rural communities themselves is also used to put the findings into context. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting