The Driver2020 project was a multi-year real-world randomised controlled trial, led by TRL on behalf of the Department for Transport. It evaluated the real-world effectiveness of five interventions aimed at making newly-qualified drivers safer. Three of these interventions (logbook, hazard perception training, and an education intervention) were delivered to learner drivers during their learning to drive, and two (mentoring, and a telematics app) were delivered to novice drivers after they had passed their driving test.

Participants in the study were randomly assigned to one of the interventions, or to a corresponding control group, in each of the ‘learner’ and ‘novice’ arms. The target sample in each of the seven groups was 2,036. Participants completed surveys when they passed their practical driving test, and then again at three, six, and twelve months post-test. Surveys measured various aspects of pre- and post-test driving, collisions in the first year of driving, and various surrogate measures of risk targeted by the different interventions.

The findings from this research are due for release, and in this session the research team that undertook the project will discuss the wider implications of young and novice driver interventions as a part of a safe system approach to this group. This will include a summary of thinking and recent findings from the US, Australia and elsewhere, and where we might be heading in the UK with our strategy for making this group safer.

Jill Weekley, Principal Evaluation Consultant, TRL

Jill Weekley is a Principal Evaluation Consultant at TRL with 20 years of experience working in transport.

During her time at TRL she has led projects in a range of areas, more recently focusing on driver behaviour and the evaluation of behaviour change interventions in different contexts, such as driver training and licensing, new technologies and interactions with other road users and road infrastructure - with the aim of improved road safety.

She has significant experience in the management and delivery of large-scale impact evaluations and is the lead for Driver2020 – a nationwide randomised controlled trial involving over 28,000 young and novice drivers.

Shaun Helman, Chief Scientist for Behavioural Sciences, TRL

Shaun Helman is an applied cognitive and social psychologist with nearly two decades’ experience in road safety, road user behaviour, and human-technology integration.

His research focuses on the safety of young and newly qualified drivers, vulnerable road user safety (especially visibility and conspicuity) and work-related road safety. More generally, his research and commentary focus on raising the standards of evaluation and evidence in the transport domain, including research into automated driving technologies, low-emission vehicles, and the emergence of new models of the movement of people and goods such as shared mobility.

Shaun has a track record of delivering projects which impact directly on government policy and advice to road users, including many of the changes in the last decade to driver testing and licensing in Great Britain.

He has written over 120 journal articles and customer reports since 2002 and has presented at numerous national and international conferences on road safety and other transport issues.

He represents TRL at the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety and acts as a reviewer for several scientific journals and grant bodies.