Last October, measures to reduce the number of accidents
involving injuries on the roads of Québec went
into effect. Repeat offenders and young drivers in particular
were targeted by the amendments to the Highway Safety
Code. According to Urs Maag, of the Transportation Research
Centre at Université de Montréal, the new
clauses are justified by an analysis of data from Québec's
government-run car insurance company, the SAAQ, which
he has been conducting for several years at the Transportation
Safety Laboratory. “We have known for a long time
that new drivers are involved in more accidents involving
bodily injury than the general population,” he
explains. But one of our studies showed that, within
this subgroup, drivers whose licences have been suspended
for three months or more are involved in twice as many
accidents of this kind as other drivers.”
Mr. Maag reached these conclusions after a study of the
files of 3550 men and 1295 women aged 16 to 25 years over
a three-year period. The professor in the Department of
Mathematics and Statistics also analyzed their results
on driving tests and noted that you can foresee which driver
will be “at risk” from that point on. “New
drivers who need more than one try to pass the three parts
of the theoretical exam are at greater risk of being in
an accident than those that pass on the first try,” he
explains. According to SAAQ data, about 4500 drivers have
their licences suspended for 3, 6 or 12 months per year.
The over-representation of drivers aged 16 to 24 years
in highway accidents is a recognized social phenomenon
around the world, and Québec is no exception. Thus,
even though young Québec drivers account for only
11% of the holders of driver's licenses and their annual
average mileage is lower than the other groups of drivers,
they represent 23% of drivers involved in accidents with
bodily injury.
Mr. Maag is not opposed to tightening up the regulations;
in fact, he wants them made stricter. “Not so long
ago, a person whose licence was suspended could take his
car from the Courthouse parking lot and drive it home.
This is no longer the case, as the vehicle is now seized
at once.” Currently, Mr. Maag is working on other
projects in collaboration with Dr Claire Laberge-Nadeau,
who is Director of the Transportation Safety Laboratory.
Georges Dionne, a professor at HEC Montréal, and
professionals Denise Desjardins and Stéphane Messier
also participated in the research on new drivers.
Researcher: Urs Maag
Telephone: (514) 343-6240
Email: maag@dms.umontreal.ca
Funding: Société de l’assurance automobile
du Québec, Ministry of Transportation (Québec),
Fonds de l’aide aux Researchers
