Unlicensed driving remains a serious problem for road safety, despite ongoing improvements in traffic law enforcement practices and technology. While it does not play a direct causative role in road crashes, unlicensed driving undermines the integrity of the driver licensing system and is associated with a range of high-risk behaviours. This thesis documents three studies that were undertaken to explore the scope and nature of unlicensed driving, in order to develop more effective countermeasures to the behaviour.----- Study One utilised official road crash data from the Australian state of Queensland to compare the crash involvement patterns of unlicensed drivers with those of licensed drivers. The results confirmed that unlicensed driving is a relatively small, but significant road safety problem. Unlicensed drivers represent over 6% of the drivers involved in fatal crashes and 5% of those in serious injury crashes. Based on a quasi-induced exposure method, unlicensed drivers were found to be almost three times as likely to be involved in a crash than licensed drivers. In the event of a crash, those involving unlicensed drivers were twice as likely to result in a fatality or serious injury. Consistent with these results, the serious crashes involving unlicensed drivers were more likely to feature risky driving behaviours, such as drink driving, speeding and motorcycle use, than those involving licensed drivers.----- Study Two involved a cross-sectional survey of 309 unlicensed driving offenders who were recruited at the Brisbane Central Magistrates Court. The survey involved a face-to-face interview that took approximately 25 minutes to complete and achieved a response rate of 62.4%. A wide range of offenders participated in the study, including: disqualified and suspended drivers; expired licence holders; drivers without a current or appropriate licence; and those who had never been licensed. The results reinforced concerns about the on-road behaviour of unlicensed drivers. Almost one quarter of all the offenders reported driving unlicensed when they thought they might have been over the alcohol limit. Similarly, 25% reported exceeding the speed limit by 10 km/h or more on most or all occasions, while 15% admitted that they didn't always wear their seat belt. In addition, the results indicated that unlicensed drivers should not be viewed as a homogeneous group. Significant differences were found between the offender types in terms of their socio-demographic characteristics (age, education level, prior criminal convictions); driving history (prior convictions for unlicensed driving and other traffic offences); whether they were aware of being unlicensed; the degree to which they limited their driving while unlicensed; and their drink driving behaviour. In particular, a more deviant sub-group of offenders was identified, that included the disqualified, not currently licensed and never licensed drivers, who reported higher levels of prior criminal offending, alcohol misuse and self-reported drink driving. The results of Study Two also highlight the shortcomings of existing police enforcement practices. Almost one-third of the sample reported that they continued to drive unlicensed after being detected by the police (up until the time of the court hearing), while many offenders reported experiences of punishment avoidance. For example, over one third of the participants reported being pulled over by the police while driving unlicensed and not having their licence checked.----- Study Three involved the further analysis of the cross-sectional survey data to explore the factors contributing to unlicensed driving. It examined the influence of various personal, social and environmental factors on three aspects of the offenders' behaviour: the frequency of their driving while unlicensed; whether they continued to drive unlicensed after being detected; and their intentions to drive unlicensed in the future. This study was also designed to assess the capacity of a number of different theoretical perspectives to explain unlicensed driving behaviour, including deterrence theory and Akers' (1977) social learning theory. At an applied level, the results of Study Three indicated that personal and social factors exert the strongest influence over unlicensed driving behaviour. The main personal influences on unlicensed driving were: the need to drive for work purposes; exposure to punishment avoidance; personal attitudes to unlicensed driving; and anticipated punishments for the behaviour. The main social influences reflected the social learning construct of differential association, namely being exposed to significant others who both engage in unlicensed driving (behavioural dimension) and hold positive attitudes to the behaviour (normative dimension). At a theoretical level, the results of Study Three have two important implications for traffic psychology and criminology. Firstly, they provided partial support for Stafford and Warr's (1993) reconceptualisation of deterrence theory by demonstrating that the inclusion of punishment avoidance can improve the overall predictive utility of the perspective. Secondly, they suggested that social learning theory represents a more comprehensive framework for predicting illegal driving behaviours, such as unlicensed driving. This is consistent with Akers' (1977; 1990) assertion that formal deterrence processes can be subsumed within social learning theory.----- Together, the results of the three studies have important implications for road safety. Most importantly, they question the common assumption that unlicensed drivers drive in a more cautious manner to avoid detection. While the findings indicate that many offenders reduce their overall driving exposure in order to avoid detection, this does not appear to result in safer driving. While it remains possible that unlicensed drivers tend to act more cautiously than they would otherwise, it appears that their driving behaviour is primarily designed to reduce their chances of detection. In terms of countermeasures, the research indicates that a multi-strategy approach is required to address the problem of unlicensed driving. Unlicensed drivers do not represent a homogeneous group who are likely to be influenced by the threat of punishment alone. Rather, innovative strategies are required to address the wide range of factors that appear to encourage or facilitate the behaviour. Foremost among these are punishment avoidance and the need to drive for work purposes.

Submitted by Edineia Teixeira (edineia.teixeira@unioeste.br) on 2018-02-26T19:12:48Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Joanna _Biavatti2017.pdf: 3090152 bytes, checksum: 68a29cf9c1a67bf74c601cb7e55eac79 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-02-26T19:12:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Joanna _Biavatti2017.pdf: 3090152 bytes, checksum: 68a29cf9c1a67bf74c601cb7e55eac79 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-22 / The National Program for Access to Technical Education and Employment - Pronatec, created by the Federal Government through Law No. 12,513, of October 26, 2011, aims to offer free vocational courses in order to "expand, internalize and democratize The offer of vocational and technological education courses in the country, "with the aim of expanding educational and vocational training opportunities for young people, workers and beneficiaries of income transfer programs, among others. It is observed that the implementation of this program is constituted by the materialization of actions resulting from constant governmental discourses that endorse the speech of the representatives of the economic sectors regarding the shortage of skilled labor in Brazil and of the negative implications of this lack for the Technological development of the country. In this context, the present study proposes to analyze the relationship between the Pronatec courses, in the Technical and FIC-Initial and Continuous Training modalities, from 2011 to 2015, and the answer to the (justification) argument of existing Skilled labor, to meet the requirements of the economic productive sectors, especially in the municipality of Cascavel - PR. In order to do this, the data related to the courses offered and the needs identified by the economic sectors and the applicants, expressed by the data of the MTE, CAGED, IBGE, IPARDS, RAIS, CNI, FIEP, SEED and the Worker's Agency were interlinked. This analysis subsidized the construction of a panorama of the offer of Vocational Education, in which the representation of the demand for the Pronatec courses and the offered jobs were gathered. In this analysis it was possible to verify if the offered courses meet the requirements of the productive sectors, and also, if there was a significant increase in the occupation rates of the formal work posts, through the referrals made by the Worker Agency in the municipality of Cascavel, PR. / O Programa Nacional de Acesso ao Ensino Técnico e Emprego – Pronatec, criado pelo Governo Federal por meio da Lei N°12.513, de 26 de Outubro de 2011, objetiva a oferta de cursos profissionalizantes gratuitos, com a finalidade de “expandir, interiorizar e democratizar a oferta de cursos de educação profissional e tecnológica no país”, com intuito ampliar as oportunidades educacionais e de formação profissional para jovens, trabalhadores e beneficiários de programas de transferência de renda, entre outros. Observa-se que a implementação desse programa constitui-se na materialização de ações decorrentes de constantes discursos governamentais, que endossam a fala dos representantes dos setores econômicos quanto a escassez de mão-de-obra qualificada no Brasil e das implicações negativas desta carência para o desenvolvimento tecnológico do país. Frente a este contexto, a presente pesquisa propõe-se a analisar a relação entre os cursos Pronatec, nas modalidades Técnico e FIC– Formação Inicial e Continuada, no período de 2011 a 2015, e a resposta ao argumento (justificativa) de existente deficiência de mão-de-obra qualificada, para atender os requerimentos dos setores produtivos econômicos, em especial, no munícipio de Cascavel – PR. Para tal, realizou-se o entrelaçamento dos dados referentes aos cursos ofertados e as necessidades sinalizadas pelos setores econômico, e demandantes, expressas pelos dados do MTE, CAGED, IBGE, IPARDS, RAIS, CNI, FIEP, SEED e Agência do Trabalhador. Essa análise subsidiou a construção de um panorama da oferta da Educação Profissional, em que congregou-se a representação da demanda de oferta de cursos Pronatec e dos postos de trabalho ofertados. Nessa análise foi possível constatar se os cursos ofertados atendem os requerimentos dos setores produtivos, e ainda, se houve significativo aumento nas taxas de ocupação dos postos formais de trabalho, por intermédio dos encaminhamentos realizados pela Agência do Trabalhador no município de Cascavel, PR.