An educated prevention: the effectiveness of police-led, school-based driver education programs.

This study examines the effectiveness of police-led school-based education programs in reducing the high-risk driving intentions of young people. Road traffic crashes are the second leading cause of death for young people aged between 15 and 24 years of age (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2015). In 2016, 46 young people were killed on Queensland roads (Bureau of Infrastructure Transport and Regional Economics, 2016), this accounts for 18.47% of the road fatalities which is an over representation on the 13.5% that this age group accounts for within the Queensland population One key countermeasure used to address this over representation is driver education. There are many different types of driver education (Beanland et al., 2013) (Anderson et al., 2018). A qualitative evaluation of a compulsory pre-learner driver education course in the Australia Capital Territory identified that interactive components and a high level of engagement are important factors in a successful course (Lennon and Bates, 2015). Previous research into driver education and training suggests that apart from providing basic vehicle control skills and road law knowledge, previous driver education programs are ineffective at impacting the crash risk and infringement rate of young drivers (RACV, 2001). The Life Awareness Workshop is a program designed by the Road Policing Command of the Queensland Police Service which is both interactive and engaging for grade 12 students it is delivered to. The Life Awareness Workshop is the police-led education program utilized by this study.