Novice Driver Education and Crash Reduction

May 10, 2024 updated by: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

A Contemporary Look at Driver Training and Its Role in Reducing Crash Risk in Novice Adolescent Drivers

This study will test the effectiveness of different types of driver training interventions for reducing young new driver crash risk early after licensure.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Motor vehicle crashes remain high in young drivers, despite graduated driver licensing laws that put restrictions on driving and delay licensure. Typically, data trends show that crash risk is highest right after licensure, in the early months of independent driving. Additional studies of different driver training interventions have shown some evidence that it is possible to improve skills and reduce crashes early in licensure for young drivers. However, Pennsylvania and many other states have no professional training requirements for young drivers.

This study will test the effectiveness of different types of driver training programs for reducing young new driver crash risk early after licensure.

A thousand adolescent learner drivers in Pennsylvania will be recruited through Primary Care Clinics at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to take part in a study that will continue through the learner phase and for 6 months after licensure. Participants will give informed consent and be asked to complete some baseline surveys and cognitive tasks in-person during a clinical or other visit. All will receive care-as-usual.

Participants will also be followed through the learner phase with a smartphone app that monitors driving trips and monthly surveys that can be completed at home. In the learner phase, participants will randomly receive one of three interventions. One group of participants will receive professional behind-the-wheel training with a local driving school instructor. Another group will receive a modern online driver training course. Another group will receive an online vehicle and driver safety training course.

After the learner phase, participants will be given a state license examination and will be followed for 6 months after licensure, with online surveys at 2 and 6 months after licensure, and with continued driver trip monitoring through the smartphone app.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

1200

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

  • Name: Elizabeth A Walshe, PhD
  • Phone Number: 267-425-1583
  • Email: walshee@chop.edu

Study Contact Backup

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adolescents ages 15-18 years old who reside in Pennsylvania
  • Scheduled to or recently attended Primary Care visit with participating virtual driving assessment (VDA)
  • Subject must receive/will be receiving Pennsylvania medical certification for a Pennsylvania learner permit
  • Subject must Intend to get a Pennsylvania learner permit (first time applicants only) within 4 weeks
  • Have a personal cell phone and access to a smartphone/tablet/computer with Internet access
  • Are able to read/write in English
  • Provide informed consent/assent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Possession of permit or license prior to enrollment at any time
  • Non-Pennsylvania resident
  • Participants who do not pass the license exam will not be able to complete the post-license monitoring until the license is obtained

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Control Condition: Care-as-usual
Participants in this arm will receive care as usual, and also complete an online video training module on vehicle and driver safety, with a short quiz at the end to determine compliance. The training content will not teach driving skills, as in the other online driver training arm. It requires up to two hours to complete and can be done from any internet-connected computer (at home, at school, etc.).
Behavioral: Online Vehicle and Driver Safety Training
This online video education program provides education in vehicle and driver safety (e.g. vehicle maintenance, adjusting car seats and seatbelts). This online training will take up to 2 hours to complete and will have a short quiz at the end to determine compliance with this online training.
Experimental: Online ACCEL Training
Participants in the Online Driver Skills Training arm will complete an online driver skill training program known as Accelerated Curriculum to Create Effective Learning (ACCEL) for novice drivers. It requires up to two hours to complete and can be done from any internet-connected computer (at home, at school, etc.).
Behavioral: Online Driver Skills Training
The online driver training is the Accelerated Curriculum to Create Effective Learning (ACCEL) is designed to enhance the ability to anticipate, recognize and respond to hazards and to maintain attention to the road. The training is delivered online via a computer and can be done from home or at a school or other site that has a computer with internet access. It requires up to two hours to complete, and will be hosted on a platform that will track progress and completion through the training (such as accuracy, duration in modules, time to complete) and a short quiz will be provided at the end to assess learning.
Experimental: Behind-the-Wheel Driver Training
Participants in the Behind-the-Wheel training arm will receive professional behind-the-wheel training course delivered in-person on the road by a local driving school instructor through our partnership with Driver Training Services.
Behavioral: Behind-the-Wheel Driver Training
The professional behind-the-wheel training course will be conducted in-person, delivered by local driving school partner Driver Training Services. The curriculum consists of 6 hours of training with assigned practice between lessons, and meets Pennsylvania and national standards. Post-lesson forms completed by the instructors will record adherence and consistency (intervention fidelity).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Hard Braking Events
Time Frame: Measured over the 6 months post-licensure at the end of the study (about month 18-24).
For Aim 1 and 3, the primary outcome is the number of hard braking events per 100 miles driven during, as measured via the Way-to-Drive App.
Measured over the 6 months post-licensure at the end of the study (about month 18-24).
Pass rate on the licensure exam
Time Frame: Measured at the time of the license examination, post-intervention (in about month 8-18).
The primary outcome in Aim 2 and 3 will be the pass rate on the first licensure exam attempt.
Measured at the time of the license examination, post-intervention (in about month 8-18).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Phone Use While Driving
Time Frame: Measured over the 6 months post-licensure at the end of the study (about month 18-24).
For Aim 1 and 3: minutes of handheld phone use per hour of driving, as measured via the Way-to-Drive App.
Measured over the 6 months post-licensure at the end of the study (about month 18-24).
Speeding
Time Frame: Measured over the 6 months post-licensure at the end of the study (about month 18-24).
For Aim 1 and 3: Proportion of drive time >10 miles over the posted speed limit, as measured via the Way-to-Drive App.
Measured over the 6 months post-licensure at the end of the study (about month 18-24).
Crash Involvement
Time Frame: Measured at 2-, 4- and 6-month follow-up post-licensure (about month 18-24).
For Aim 1 and 3: Self-reported involvement in crashes as a driver (binary yes/no) as captured by a question in our follow-up driver experience questionnaire: response options are 1) none; 2) one; 3) two; 4) more than 2. This item has been used in previous studies as part of the modified Driver Behavior Questionnaire (mDBQ).
Measured at 2-, 4- and 6-month follow-up post-licensure (about month 18-24).
Risky driving behavior
Time Frame: Measured at 2-, 4- and 6-month follow-up post-licensure (within about month 18-24).
For Aim 1 and 3: Risky Driving factor score as captured through self-reported responses on the modified driver behavior questionnaire, in which participants rate how often they engage in 11 different risk-taking behaviors while driving on a 6-point scale from "Never" to "Nearly all the time."
Measured at 2-, 4- and 6-month follow-up post-licensure (within about month 18-24).
Virtual Driving Assessment performance
Time Frame: Measured at the time of the license examination, post-intervention (in about month 8-18).
For Aim 2 and 3: the class of driving behavior assessed via performance on a virtual driving assessment.
Measured at the time of the license examination, post-intervention (in about month 8-18).
Change in Virtual Driving Assessment performance
Time Frame: Measured at the time of the license examination, post-intervention (in about month 8-18).
For Aim 2 and 3: the change in virtual driving assessment performance class assessed via performance on a virtual driving assessment pre- and post-intervention.
Measured at the time of the license examination, post-intervention (in about month 8-18).
Number of license exam attempts
Time Frame: Measured at the time of the license examination, post-intervention (in about month 8-18).
For Aim 2 and 3: the number of attempts taken to pass the licensure exam.
Measured at the time of the license examination, post-intervention (in about month 8-18).

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Collaborators

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
University of Pennsylvania
University of Michigan
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Elizabeth A Walshe, PhD, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Principal Investigator: Flaura Winston, MD, PhD, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Principal Investigator: Dan Romer, PhD, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia/University of Pennsylvania

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

May 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 24, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 10, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

May 14, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 14, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 10, 2024

Last Verified

May 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 21-019445
  • 1R01HD108249-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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