The experiences of parents and other supervisors in a graduated driver licensing program in Queensland, Australia Lyndel Bates, Barry Watson, Mark King

Queensland Pre-July 2007Queensland Post-July 2007 Learner Theory Test Minimum age 16.5 yearsMinimum age 16 years Hold for a minimum of 6 monthsHold for a minimum of 12 months Zero alcohol limit (if < 25 years)Zero alcohol limit (if < 25 years *) Must be supervised Must display L plates Can accumulate 3 demerit points Must carry licence Record 100 hours in logbook Must not use mobile in any way Passenger(s) must not use mobile on loudspeaker function Practical Driving Assessment 2

Driving Practice 3 Characteristic Original-GDL (n = 149) Hours (M, SD) Enhanced- GDL (n = 183) Hours (M, SD) Reported logbook hours108.8 (12.7) Reported driving practice63.3 (48.0)92.4 (24.8) Driving practice with parents/ friends 52.8 (45.8)83.3 (25.6) Driving practice with professional instructor 11.5 (15.8) 9.8 (8.7) Bold font indicates a statistically-significant difference.

Study Aims  Describe how parents and other private supervisors have responded to the changes made to the Queensland graduated driver licensing system in mid  Examine differences in the experiences and perceptions of the parents and non- parents

Method  Combination of convenience and snowball sampling  Survey administered by the internet  Survey conducted between July 2009 and May 2010  Approximately minutes to complete  $20 reimbursement for participation

Sample (1) Sample  228 supervisors −116 (50.9%) parents −112 (49.1%) non-parents Age  Parents (M = 44.1, sd = 8.6)  Non-parents (M = 36.2, sd = 13.1) t (226) = 5.41, p = <.001

Sample (2) Parent (%)Non- parent (%) Total (%)Significance Gender Male Female 42 (36.2) 74 (63.8) 65 (58) 47 (42) 107 (46.9) 121 (53.1) x 2 (1) = 10.90, p =.001 Marital status Single Married De facto/ have a partner Previously married 12 (10.3) 85 (73.3) 10 (8.6) 9 (7.8) 50 (44.6) 42 (37.5) 13 (11.6) 7 (6.2) 62 (27.2) 127 (55.7) 23 (10.1) 16 (7.0) x 2 (3) = 38.43, p = <.001

Supervisor relationship  Relationship to the Learner: −Parents  Mother: 34.2%  Father: 16.7% –Non-parents  Stepmother: 3.1%  Stepfather: 2.2%  Other: 43.9%

Primary supervisor Were you the primary supervisor for this person?  Total: Yes 63.2%, No 36.8% –Parents: Yes 70.7%, No 29.3% –Non-parents: Yes 55.4%, No 44.6%  Statistically significant difference: –x 2 (1) = 5.76, p =.02

Number of Learners supervised How many learners have you supervised while they were learning to drive in the past 12 months?  Total: M = 1.4 –Parents: M = 1.5 –Non-parents: M = 1.4  Not statistically significant: −t (226) =.50, p =.62

Number of hours of supervision How many hours did you supervise the learner for?  Total: M = 79.6 –Parents: M = 68.6 –Non-parents: M = 91.1  Not statistically significant: –t (226) = , p =.06

Parental involvement How involved do you think parents should be in teaching their children to drive?  Total: M = 4.0 –Parents: M = 4.1 –Non-parents: M = 3.8  Not statistically significant: –t (226) = , p =.09 1 Not very involved 5 Very involved P NP

Use of the Log book (1) Did you record your supervision time in the log book? Total: M = 1.8 –Parents: M = 1.6 –Non-parents: M = 2.0 Statistically significant: –t (226) = , p = All practice 4 No practice NP P

Use of the Log book (2) How accurate were the hours recorded?  Total: M = 3.7 –Parents: M = 3.9 –Non-parents: M = 3.4  Statistically significant: –t (226) = 3.92, p = < Not very accurate 5 Very accurate NP P

Importance of teaching (1) How important do you think it is to teach your learner each of the following? BehaviourMsdF1F1 df Statistical level Remaining within the speed limit Parent (n = 116) Non-parent (n = 112) , 222p =.007 Car control Parent (n = 116) Non-parent (n = 112) , 222p =.059 Hazard perception Parent (n = 116) Non-parent (n = 112) , 222p =.002 Following distances Parent (n = 116) Non-parent (n = 112) , 222p = The ANCOVA controlled for age, income, marital status and gender of the participants.

Importance of teaching (2) BehaviourMsdF1F1 df Statistical level Fatigue Parent (n = 116) Non-parent (n = 112) , 222p =.013 Drink driving Parent (n = 116) Non-parent (n = 112) , 222p =.059 Drug driving (illegal drugs) Parent (n = 116) Non-parent (n = 112) , 222p =.029 Appropriate mobile phone behaviour Parent (n = 116) Non-parent (n = 112) , 222p = The ANCOVA controlled for age, income, marital status and gender of the participants.

Discussion (1)  Private supervisors provide the majority of the supervised practice that learner drivers undertake in Queensland  Parents were more likely to report being the primary supervisor  However, non-parents reported providing a substantial amount of supervision  Overall, supervisors report that they record hours of practice reasonably accurately

Discussion (2)  Both parents and non-parents believe parents should be involved in teaching their children to drive  Parents were more likely to report recording the practice they supervised in the logbook, and for the hours to be accurate  Overall, non-parents were more likely to think it important to teach a range of safety-related driving behaviours

Study limitations  Convenience sample  Unable to calculate response rates  May be a volunteer bias  The representation of parents vs. non- parents may not be generaliseable to the broader population  The study relied on self-report data

Conclusions  GDL systems have traditionally encouraged the greater involvement of parents  Mandating extensive hours of practice has resulted in more private supervision being provided to Learner drivers in Queensland  Non-parental supervisors appear to play a significant role, along with parents  Need to more directly support private supervisors, including non-parents

Further research  Who are the non-parents involved in supervising learners?  At what stage do non-parents become involved?  Do parents and non-parents provide different types of supervision?  Does the parental involvement continue into the provisional phase?

Questions? Dr Lyndel Bates: Professor Barry Watson: Mark your Diaries! International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety Conference (T2013) August 2013, Brisbane

20 th International Council on Alcohol, Drugs & Traffic Safety Conference