Speed and Young Drivers: Developing Countermeasures to Target Excessive Speed Behaviours amongst Young Drivers

Royal Automobile Club of Victoria VicRoads The purpose of this project was the provision of recommendations concerning the development of enforcement methods or procedures that will better target excessive speed amongst younger drivers. An analysis of crash data confirmed general predictions that young drivers, and young males in particular, are more likely to be involved in crashes defined as speed-related than are older drivers. The results of a survey of younger drivers were ambiguous with respect to the likely effect of an enforcement program. It was clear that exposure to enforcement has an effect on the perceived risk of detection for speeding, but it was also clear that the perceived risk of detection was not related to other speed-related attitudes such as the driver's comfort exceeding the speed limit or the effect of the speed limit on driving behaviour. This confirms that factors other than enforcement contribute to speeding behaviour, and that increased enforcement levels are unlikely, on their own, to impact on the actual behaviour of younger drivers. This issue is discussed, and it is concluded that some characteristics of a successful enforcement program might include additional nighttime enforcement activity; a focus on the personal risk of detection as opposed to a focus on the theoretical risk of detection; a reliance on uncertainty in the placement of enforcement activity; and the use of visible enforcement.