Road trauma remains one of the leading causes of death for young Australians.1 Of particular concern is the fact that more than a quarter of all fatal road injuries (27%) and hospitalisations (26%) are in the age group 17 to 25 years,2 and yet this age group comprises only 15% of licensed drivers.3 As well, despite continued funding and the implementation of effective road safety strategies, road fatalities in this age group have remained relatively constant since 1998.

To achieve the national road safety strategy target of reducing the population-based road fatality rate by 40% (from 9.3 to 5.6 per 100 000) by 2010,4 various road safety strategies must receive priority. These include greater investment in the road infrastructure and adoption of further standards for motor vehicle safety, as well as enhancements to existing programs such as speed management and random breath testing. Importantly, implementation of promising new road safety initiatives that target the over-representation of newly licensed young drivers in the road crash statistics is necessary.

Newly licensed or novice drivers are at increased risk of crashing, especially in the first months of licensing, with a recent study finding 14% of young drivers crash within the first 12 months of driving.5 The risk remains whether the drivers are licensed at 16 years of age (as in many states of the United States6) or at age 17 or 18 years (as in Australia7). The disproportionately high number of newly licensed drivers in the crash statistics has been attributed to factors such as inexperience, an inability to identify hazards, night-time driving, carrying same-age or peer passengers, and risky driving behaviour such as speeding.8,9 A response that has achieved some success in reducing the disproportionate number of crashes of young drivers has been the introduction of graduated licensing systems throughout Australia.

The aim of graduated licensing systems is to moderate the effect of risk taking and inexperience, and thereby reduce a young driver’s risk of crashing and the concomitant risk of trauma to the passengers of young drivers and associated third parties. Graduated licensing can be described as a process whereby novice drivers begin their driving careers with significant restrictions, which are removed in stages depending on driving experience or successful test results. An elementary graduated licensing system exists in all Australian states and territories — Learner drivers are required to drive only under the supervision of an experienced driver, and Probationary/Provisional drivers have significant restrictions placed on blood alcohol content and, in some states, maximum speed. Integral to the effectiveness of the graduated licensing system is late night driving and peer passenger restrictions during the early probationary period of licensing. To date, no Australian jurisdiction has incorporated these restrictions into the system, although, in the first half of 2005, NSW will introduce passenger restrictions for provisional drivers who have previously lost their licence.10

Graduated licensing systems that include the three stages and the late night and peer passenger restrictions have shown significant reductions in fatal and injurious crashes involving young drivers. In New Zealand, where the licensing system has included these restrictions, reductions of between 7% and 23% in serious injury have been observed.11 Importantly, evaluations of graduated licensing systems that include late night driving restrictions have shown crash reductions of up to 60% during the late night hours.6

Discussions surrounding whether late night and peer passenger restrictions should be introduced in Australia have met with a number of objections: law enforcement officials perceive the restrictions would be difficult to enforce; politicians perceive a potential backlash from constituents; and young drivers (particularly rural drivers) believe the restrictions would place an undue burden on them given the absence of alternative transport. Despite these concerns, studies in countries that have implemented the restrictions have reported overwhelming support. For example, enforcement appears not to be onerous, as many parents play a significant role in policing the restrictions.12 With reductions in road trauma due, in part, to the comprehensive graduated licensing system, politicians in these countries have seen support rather than retribution. Finally, and most significantly, feedback from young rural drivers in the United States following the introduction of restrictions shows overwhelming support — young rural drivers either strongly agreed (10%) or agreed (53%) with the restrictions.13

A road safety policy that attempts to identify at-risk young drivers and to impose restrictions only on those drivers is unlikely to succeed, because there is no reliable screening test for at-risk drivers. Identifying at-risk young drivers on the basis of prior traffic violations (as proposed by the NSW government10) would not be useful, as most fatally injured young drivers have no prior traffic violations.6 Instead, a whole-population approach such as graduated licensing, which targets all newly licensed drivers, is likely to achieve reductions in young driver fatalities and serious injury. Of importance, however, is the unequivocal evidence that graduated licensing systems that incorporate late night and peer passenger restrictions reduce road fatalities and serious injury and convey a benefit to cost ratio of 74 to 1.6

It is evident that our current graduated licensing systems have been steering young drivers in the right direction. However, until night driving and peer passenger restrictions are incorporated into the graduated licensing system throughout Australia, it is unlikely that the national road safety strategy target for 2010 — to reduce the road fatality rate by 40% — will be achieved.