Driver education ‘does not reduce’ accident risk
There is no evidence that giving extra education to drivers once they have passed their tests would prevent traffic accidents and injuries, according to new research.
A review of 24 separate studies of driver education over the last four decades has led co-author Ian Roberts to suggest improvements to traffic systems would be far more beneficial than driver further education in terms of reducing road deaths.
The tenth leading cause of death in the world today according to the World Health Organization, some experts predict that road traffic accidents will become the third largest cause of ‘disease’ in the world by 2020. This research, published in the form of a Cochrane review this week, makes an important contribution to the debate.
The reviewers collated information from all driver education studies they could find, by searching many databases in many languages in order to avoid bias. They came up with 23 trials of driver education conducted in the USA and one in Sweden.
Merging and analysing the data, the researchers could find no evidence that giving extra education to people after they have passed their driving test prevents road traffic injuries or crashes. Professor Roberts claims this is because ‘All the education in the world won’t change the fact that the traffic environment is dangerous.’
The alternative is the development of safer transport systems, reducing the amount of traffic in urban areas and replacing this with walking, cycling and improved public transport, he advises.
Instead of providing driver education, companies wishing to protect their staff should adopt teleconferencing to avoid unnecessary journeys to meetings, and encourage the use of safer alternatives such as rail, the authors write.
‘Driver education is big business – our results shows that it is also a big con,’ adds Professor Roberts.
Over one million people are killed worldwide annually in road traffic accidents, according to the WHO. Each year, 20 million are injured in road traffic accidents, with the vast majority of these losses occurring in low and middle-income countries.
Improving the safety of road traffic systems can be expensive, particularly in poorer countries. But the cost of neglecting the problem is far worse, WHO’s director general Gro Harlem Brundtland pointed out earlier this year.
‘In strict economic terms, the costs associated with surgery, prolonged hospitalisation and long-term rehabilitation for such victims, in addition to their lost productivity, represents tens of billions of dollars each year.’
Discussion of efforts to develop drunk driving policies, the use of motorcycle helmets, visibility and other means of improving road safety will form part of next April’s World Health Day, with the theme ‘Safe Roads’.
