ABSTRACT
The Chapter. As the content of this handbook indicates, there is much that is known about the behaviors of teen and novice drivers and their response to various interventions designed to change and improve those behaviors. But nowhere has it been made clear exactly how the research gets translated into practice, into programs that are intended to reduce novice driver crashes. This chapter is an attempt to do just that. We begin with a discussion of the general role of various entities in the implementation of interventions designed either to provide teens and novice drivers with the skills, motivation, and technologies to drive more safely or to screen those who do not have such skills. Then, four major interventions are used to illustrate how these entities are instrumental in completing the trip along the road from research to practice. It is clear from these interventions that the road is by no means a straight one and depends on political, social, individual, and scientific contributions coming together synergistically at a particular moment in time, either to launch a portion of a program (e.g., graduated driver licensing [GDL] was a state-by-state effort) or to launch an entire program (e.g., license screening). Limitations. There are several obvious limitations. Perhaps the most significant one is that the approach taken in this chapter is largely based on case studies. These cases are by no means exhaustive, and therefore, the lessons learned are limited.
