Keys2drive: the evolution continues

Keys2drive, Australia’s largest-ever learner-driver education program, recently celebrated two milestones – its eighth birthday and its 500,000th participant. Keys2drive is aimed at arresting the overrepresentation of novice drivers in road trauma across Australia. Citizens aged 17-25 comprise only 13% of the Australian population, but more than 20% of the annual road toll (Senserrick, 2015). In 2009, when Keys2drive lessons began, there were 291 road crash fatalities among drivers and passengers aged 17-25, which equates to 28% of the total number of fatalities. In 2016, that number dropped to 192 (BITRE, 2016), or 23% of the total. Although not solely responsible, Keys2drive has helped shape this outcome by boosting the skills, confidence and risk management of novice drivers and their supervisors.