Experiences of young drivers and accompanying persons in Denmark: A qualitative study

The safety effect of accompanied driving depends on the level of practice and on compliance with restrictions. On January 1st 2017, Denmark introduced accompanied driving as a voluntary option from age 17 and after passing the national driving test. Up to age 18, driving is only allowed when supervised, but after the age of 18 unrestricted access to solo driving is automatically provided. This study investigates user experiences among young drivers (YDs) and accompanying persons (APs), and the impact on engagement and compliance. It uses a socio-ecological model (S-EM) as a framework to identify facilitators and constrainers, taking into account all social levels, from the individual to the legislative. Information was obtained through semi-structured telephone interviews with 28 YDs who had received their licences through L17, and 24 APs. Thematic analyses identified nine themes and 12 sub-themes operating at different levels of the social environment and associated with differences in engagement. Overall, the results suggest that leaving it to the participating YDs and APs to decide on the amount and type of accompanied driving may not achieve the intended safety benefit due to influence of unhelpful motivations, limited knowledge, mismatched expectations of YDs and APs, a limited amount of, and limited variation in, driving, and a lack of support and compliance with the unaccompanied driving ban. In conclusion, results suggest that a guided approach that addresses the barriers at different levels of the social environment is needed to optimise the safety effect of accompanied driving as a voluntary option.