Young Driver Focus 2018 (conference papers)

Now in its fifth year, the Young Driver Focus conference is jointly organised by FirstCar, Road Safety GB and the RAC Foundation.

Young Driver Focus examines current and future thinking with regard to the vital issue of reducing crashes and casualties among young drivers and their passengers.

The 2018 edition of Young Driver Focus utilised the strapline ‘Connecting with Generation Z: understanding the current crop of young drivers’.

The programme included:
• A keynote presentation from road safety minister Jesse Norman.

• Nicholas Worrell, a former US Marine now working for the National Transportation Safety Board in the USA, addressed delegates about the challenges of being on the ‘frontline of road safety’.

• Four academics presented two recent studies looking at young driver behaviour. Alan Tapp and Sean Johnson (University of the West of England) looked at whether social media can help improve the driving of young men from deprived areas; while Richard Rowe (Sheffield University) and Damien Poulter (University of Greenwich) examined why learners are the safest drivers, but newly qualified drivers are the most dangerous.

• Six months after the introduction of the new driving test, Lesley Young, chief driving examiner at the DVSA, and Lynne Barrie, chair of the approved Driving Instructors National Joint Council (ADINJC), updated delegates as to how the new-look test is bedding in.

• The merits of pre-driver training were debated by the motoring journalist Quentin Willson and Professor Frank McKenna

• Road safety practitioners outlined a series of current young driver interventions and campaigns they are deploying in their local areas.

• Finally, the conference closed with a series of short presentations by young people – and people who work with young people – giving tips and advice to help road safety professionals connect with this ‘hard to reach’ cohort.

The presentations can be downloaded from the conference website (link below).