An investigation of barriers and facilitators to young drivers’ engagement with post-licensure training

• Young drivers lack safe skills but do not want to engage in post-licensure training. • A survey of 745 young drivers found only 32% would accept free on-road training. • Regression models revealed a range of barriers and facilitators to training up-take. • They would however like training in adverse weather skills and new car technology. • On-road safety training (the ‘pill’) can be hidden in technology training (the ‘sugar-coating’) Young drivers are over-represented in collision statistics partly because pre-licensure training does not fully provide young drivers with all the necessary skills to be safe on the road. Despite this, post-licensure on-road training does not appear popular with young drivers, even when offered for free. To investigate their appetite for training we surveyed 745 young drivers, and asked whether they would be willing to engage with a hypothetical free training course (based on a real course). Less than a third of the sample reported they would be likely to engage with training ‘at the moment’, though acceptance rates were higher when asked if there would have been likely to sign up ‘in the past’ or ‘in the future’. Proportional odds logistical regression models suggested that reasons to avoid training included the admission that they ‘would rather do something else’ with their time, and that they ‘did not need training’. Factors that would increase their engagement with training included ‘the reputation of the training company’, ‘an understanding of why the course is offered for free’, and ‘a certificate of participation’. When asked whether there was any specific training that they felt would benefit them, responses highlighted difficult driving conditions (e.g., snow, ice) and new technology (e.g., electric vehicles, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems). Recommendations are made to design post-licensure training interventions that will increase young driver engagement.