Priorities in young and novice driver research in Australasia and the Asia Pacific Region

Despite international advances in research and intervention, young and novice drivers continue to be overrepresented in road trauma. In 2008, the US Transportation Research Board’s Young Driver Subcommittee held an expert workshop to identify the research priorities to address this issue. The focus was from a high income country perspective; however, three-quarters of the world’s road fatalities occur in low and middle income countries, many situated in close proximity to Australia. This paper summarises and extends the workshop findings to identify and include local priorities and thereby promote a novice driver research agenda for the Australasian and Asia Pacific region. Identified priorities are to: improve surveillance and database collections; advance the science of young driver programs and policies; improve understanding of mechanisms underlying how driving competence develops; gain accurate and reliable data on novice driving exposures; and to improve understanding of risk factors for novice driver crash risk in the varied settings across the region.