This report documents research funded by the NRMA ACT Road Safety Trust Fund in 2015 to investigate the strategies by which parents encourage their young provisionally licenced drivers to comply with the restrictions on their licences and with the road rules. The intention was to explore whether the construct of third party policing is a potentially useful way of attempting to increase the safety of young drivers. The aims of the study were to:

1. Assess the level of parental support for a more comprehensive GDL system within the ACT
2. Identify parental approaches and strategies in encouraging and enforcing their young adult’s compliance with the restrictions of graduated driver licencing (GDL) and the road rules more broadly
3. Describe the factors that facilitate or impede parental imposition of limits on the young driver
4. Identify and describe young driver (P plate) views of parental limit-setting and methods of ensuring compliance with GDL
5. Use the findings to inform the design of one or more interventions targeting parents to increase their young provisionally licenced driver’s compliance with road laws and with GDL restrictions Rationale for the study: It appears that as they progress through the GDL system, provisional licence holders’ compliance with road rules decreases, resulting in greater levels of riskier driving and greater tendency to receive traffic infringements. Enforcement of traffic laws is the most common initiative used to modify driver behaviour and thus reduce the incidence of traffic crashes. However, this type of formal enforcement does not appear to be as effective with young new drivers. Indeed, an ‘emboldening’ effect, where drivers exposed to higher levels of police enforcement were more likely to report lower levels of compliance, has been reported in Australia. It appears that more effective methods of influencing young novice drivers may be needed. Given that parents are more likely than other family members or non-family members to be the primary supervisor of a learner driver (Bates, Watson, & King, 2014), parental involvement during the provisional phase has the potential to encourage compliance with GDL restrictions and the road rules more broadly. The research consisted of two studies: an interview based study with 16 parents of provisionally licenced drivers in the ACT and 11 young provisional drivers (the children of the interviewed parents). The second study was an on-line survey intended to obtain a larger and more diverse sample of parents. Key Findings: Interviews with parents revealed that parental awareness of zero breath and blood alcohol requirements on provisional licences were very high though awareness of other restrictions was low. Some parents believed (incorrectly) that use of mobile phones was more restricted for provisional drivers than fully licenced drivers. Alcohol and mobile phone use were also the two issues that were of most concern to parents (both in the interviews and survey) in relation to their young drivers’ safety. Parents in the ACT appear positively disposed towards greater levels of restriction on young novice driver mobile phone use while driving than is currently in place. Parents were very willing to assist their young people to manage the potential for drink driving and offered alternative transport to help them to do this Parents in the interview sample used a variety of strategies in encouraging their young person’s compliance with licencing restrictions and with safer driving in general. These included:

• Instrumental assistance e.g. transport, money for transport to encourage compliance with zero alcohol
• Setting a good example *Maintaining open discussion about driving and their expectations of the young person *Imposing additional family rules or restrictions (e.g. for mobile phones and/or peer passengers) Parents in the survey endorsed the use of fewer strategies and did not seem to consider additional rules Generally, parental views and values were consistent with those embodied in the law, and there was an overall acceptance among parents that they should be involved in the licencing process for young people including the provisional phase. Parenting style in these two samples were categorised as authoritative, and therefore likely to have a high level of acceptance of responsibility for protecting their young adults, monitoring their behaviour and potentially intervening if necessary. Moreover, family and friends were perceived as being are more influential than police on young people’s driving. Thus results from both the interviews and the survey study support the notion that the licencing system is an important form of support for parents in their efforts and desire to protect their young people and that attempts to involve parents further in supporting young people’s compliance with road rules and licencing restrictions may be well received. Consistent with this, voluntary or mandated adoption of additional restrictions that are in keeping with best practice in graduated driver licencing would likely assist parents to influence their novice drivers. Thus it would seem that third party policing has potential as an intervention in the ACT.