Study Says Rural Roads Dangerous for Young Drivers

There is a significant risk of crash on rural roads for young drivers, according to results from Australia's largest study of this segment of the population.

According to researchers from The George Institute, young drivers living in rural areas are more likely to be involved in serious crashes than those in urban areas.

Alcohol and Driving-Blood Alcohol Level-Indian Law-Walk Test and Breathalyzer
Alcohol and driving do not mix. Drunken driving is the cause of many deaths in the world.

These results and other young driver issues will be discussed today at the launch of the Young Driver Factbase - a new online resource of young driver issues and research evidence.

Overall, young city drivers are more likely to crash due to the high-density of vehicles within urban settings. However, after conducting a survey of more than 20,000 young drivers, researchers identified young rural drivers to be at a far greater risk of single-vehicle crashes, which are more likely to result in serious injury than other crash types.

"We know that urban crashes with multiple vehicles take place more often due to the high volume cars on city roads. What we didn't know was that young drivers in rural locations are actually at a much higher risk of having single-vehicle crashes, which are often fatal and in many cases avoidable", said author Associate Professor Rebecca Ivers, The George Institute.

Samoans Pray for Safe and Injury Free Driving Switch
Samoans went to church Sunday to pray that an impending switch to driving on the left will not spark a surge in deaths and injuries on their roads.

"Since our study found that young drivers on rural roads were more likely to crash as a result of curved roads and speeding, efforts to reduce speeding behaviour and manage driving at curved road sections, such as speed cameras, and greater use of engineering measures to slow traffic are needed on rural roads", Associate Professor Ivers added. The research was conducted by Huei-Yang Chen, PhD student in the Sydney School of Public Health, the University of Sydney.

These results are part of a series of analyses from the DRIVE study, which is the largest survey of young drivers undertaken, both in Australia and internationally.

Survey Finds Older Drivers More Prone to Drink Driving
A new survey has indicated that older drivers are more likely to indulge in drink-driving than their younger counterparts, who text more while behind the wheel.

The DRIVE study was funded by Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council, NRMA Motoring and Services, and NRMA-ACT Road Safety trust and the Roads and Traffic Authority of NSW. The DRIVE study recruited over 20,822 young drivers holding red P-plates in NSW aged 17-24 years and followed all 20,822 young drivers for police-recorded crashes occurring over 2 years. The overall aim of the study is to investigate the risk factors in motor vehicle-related crashes and injuries among young drivers and to find ways to improve the safety of young drivers and help make roads safer for all users.

This particular analysis investigated the risk of various type of crash, by urban, regional and rural settings.

Study Blames Long Ring Fingers for Rash Driving
Does your man drives a little too fast and doesn't care much about traffic rules? Well, then take a close look at his ring finger.

Source-Eurekalert
RAS