The effects of the National Drivers Improvement Scheme on re-offending rates

This research, commissioned by the Department for Transport (DfT), examines the effectiveness of two day courses run under the National Driver Improvement Scheme (NDIS) in reducing re-offending. These courses are offered by the police as an alternative to Court prosecution for minor traffic offences. The courses offer retraining to drivers: they consist of both driving theory, taught in a classroom situation, and practical driving under the supervision of an Instructor. The research involved examining the conviction rates for motoring offences committed by drivers believed to have attended a course and drivers who had recently been convicted of a careless driving offence. TRL has already carried out a preliminary investigation of the NDIS courses; the main objective of this report is to compare convictions over a longer period and to explore various factors which might have influenced subsequent offence rates and confounded the analysis of the effects of course attendance, including age, sex, length of driving experience and prior offence record.