Review of young driver risk taking and its association with other risk taking behaviours

Abstract

This report documents the investigation of the relationship between risky driving behaviours and other health risk behaviours among youth and young adults, locally and elsewhere. Literature reviews were undertaken of the development of risk taking; young driver behaviour; substance use including alcohol, smoking and illicit drugs; unsafe sex, and self-harm and suicide to identify and compare common risk factors for local youth and those elsewhere. Countermeasures that can be adopted from other risk taking areas and applied to young driver risk taking were also reviewed. A number of recommendations were provided for potential interventions to reduce risk taking on the road as well as others for additional research into the relationship between risk taking on the road and elsewhere for Western Australian youth.