Novice rider survey
Young riders are substantially over represented in motorcycle crashes. In NSW, riders aged less than 26 years are involved in 29% of crashes, although they are the registered owners of only 9% motorcycles.
Protective clothing has great potential in reducing rider injury in crashes, however:
- There are no standards for protective clothing in Australia
- Research currently available was conducted on older generations of protective wear
- Usage patterns suggest that many riders are not aware or are not convinced of the potential benefits of protective clothing
The Novice Rider Survey aims to identify factors associated with the use and non-use of protective clothing by novice motorcycle riders to understand how and why motorcyclists make decisions about usage of protective clothing.
The study will also establish the actual riding exposure of young riders to validate their crash risk rate. The long-term objective is to develop an educational intervention program to increase the use of protective clothing.
Methods
The Novice Rider Survey is a study of over 900 riders at the pre-provisional licensing stage. It is a cross-sectional study of novice motorcycle riders recruited when they attend the pre-provisional rider training course, which is a part of the NSW rider licensing process.
They are surveyed at the pre-provisional rather than learner training stage, because enrolment in the pre-provisional training course is taken to indicate a level of commitment to becoming a motorcyclist. There is a substantial drop out between the numbers who obtain a learner licence (22,000 approx pa) and those who progress to the provisional stage (9,000 per year). We will be aiming to obtain a 10% sample that is representative by age, gender and location of training centre. The location of the training centres (Sydney South, West and North, Illawarra and Hunter Valley) will provide an indication of the distribution by region.
