Quick Dips

Cutting the Road Toll or Road Users?

The 1987 introduction of the Graduated Driver's Licensing System seems to have had a good effect on reducing the road toll amongst young drivers, but not necessarily by making them better drivers, according to work by researchers at Otago University's Injury Prevention Research Unit.

"Young drivers have a disproportionately high risk of experiencing a road traffic crash," says researcher John Langley. The GDLS was designed to give young drivers aged between 15 and 24 experience in driving while being excluded from high-risk driving situations, such as driving after dark.

Langley, colleague Dorothy Begg and Alex Wagenaar from the University of Minnesota have been studying the impact of the GDLS on serious injury crashes from 1979 to 1992.

The introduction of the GDLS was closely followed by a substantial 23% reduction in car crash injuries among young people, especially 15-19 year-olds, Langley notes. "However, after taking into account reductions in our comparison groups during the same time period, the true effect of the GDLS could be as low as a 7% reduction in crash injuries."

It seems that, after analysing the effects of licensure, unemployment, and other injury trends, the main effect of the GDLS has been to reduce the number of young people driving on New Zealand roads.