This report presents the findings and recommendations of a project that had the purpose of addressing the critical safety concern of the relationship between highway design and operational factors and the behavioral response of young and inexperienced drivers. Despite the well-recognized safety concerns for younger drivers and the considerable work done in the areas of education, licensing, and enforcement, there has been little empirical work done that directly relates young driver performance to roadway factors, such as geometry, traffic control devices (TCDs), and traffic operations. This project had the general goals of integrating what is known about younger drivers, extending this through some limited new crash data analyses, and then determining the important remaining safety concerns and knowledge gaps related to roadway factors. The project then derived a set of key research issues and developed detailed project statements for a systematic approach to addressing problems. The ultimate objective of the proposed research program is to identify any improvements to highway design, operations, or countermeasures that will reduce the highway safety consequences of problems related to young and inexperienced drivers and, hopefully, other drivers as well.

"This report presents the findings and recommendations of a project that had the purpose of addressing the critical safety concern of the relationship between highway design and operational factors and the behavioral response of young and inexperienced drivers. Despite the well-recognized safety concerns for younger drivers and the considerable work done in the areas of education, licensing, and enforcement, there has been little empirical work done that directly relates young driver performance to roadway factors, such as geometry, traffic control devices (TCDs), and traffic operations. This project had the general goals of integrating what is known about younger drivers, extending this through some limited new crash data analyses, and then determining the important remaining safety concerns and knowledge gaps related to roadway factors. The project then derived a set of key research issues and developed detailed project statements for a systematic approach to addressing problems. The ultimate objective of the proposed research program is to identify any improvements to highway design, operations, or countermeasures that will reduce the highway safety consequences of problems related to young and inexperienced drivers and, hopefully, other drivers as well."--Technical report documentation p.