The experiences of parents and other supervisors in a graduated driver licensing program in Queensland, Australia Lyndel Bates, Barry Watson, Mark King
Driving Practice Bold font indicates a statistically-significant difference. 3
Study Aims • Describe how parents and other private supervisors have responded to the changes made to the Queensland graduated driver licensing system in mid-2007 • 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 15-20 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)
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: • x2(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) = - 1.90, 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) = - 1.73, p = .09 P NP 5 Very involved 1 Not very involved
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) = - 3.40, p = .001 P NP 1 All practice 4 No practice
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 = <.001 NP P 1 Not very accurate 5 Very accurate
Importance of teaching(1) How important do you think it is to teach your learner each of the following? 1 The ANCOVA controlled for age, income, marital status and gender of the participants.
Importance of teaching (2) 1 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: l.bates@griffith.edu.au Professor Barry Watson: b.watson@qut.edu.au Mark your Diaries! International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety Conference (T2013) 25-28 August 2013, Brisbane
20th International Council on Alcohol, Drugs & Traffic Safety Conference www.t2013.com
