Driving exposure of Israeli young male drivers within a graduated driver licensing system

Young drivers in Israel, as in other parts of the world, are over-represented in car crashes. In an effort to reduce their crash involvement, a graduated driver licensing (GDL) system has been introduced, which requires novice drivers to be accompanied by an experienced driver for the first three months. This study aims to characterize the driving patterns of young drivers in the accompanied driving period and immediately thereafter. Data on trips of 217 young drivers was gathered by installing in-vehicle data recorders (IVDR) in the primary vehicles the drivers drove. This enables studying their driving exposure characteristics and the temporal and spatial distributions of these trips. Substantial differences were found between the driving patterns characteristics in the two periods suggesting an increase in exposure to risk in the solo period. This includes almost doubling the amount of driving they undertake in the solo period compared to the accompanied period. The timing of their driving time also changes as they drive much more during riskier conditions in the late evening and night hours and in more complex driving environments in built areas and on arterial and collector roads during the solo period. These results may be useful in that they can be used to generate realistic guidance to novice drivers and their accompanying drivers on required or suggested amounts of accompanied driving overall and in various situations. They may also suggest ways to refine the constraints imposed on novice drivers within the GDL program, such as on nighttime driving.