Driver 2020 Report confirms Hazard perception delivers tangible benefits for learner drivers.

The Department for Transport (DfT) in the UK commissioned the Driver 2020 project, a major research initiative run by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) to find ways to improve the safety of young and novice drivers in their first year of driving, focusing on educational and technological interventions. The Driver2020 project evaluated the real-world effectiveness of five interventions designed to reduce collisions and risk in learner and novice drivers aged 17-24 in Great Britain. Three interventions were delivered to learner drivers. These were a logbook (designed to increase on-road practice), a hazard perception training e-learning intervention (designed to improve hazard perception skills), and a classroom-based education intervention designed to improve several safety-related attitudes and behaviours.

Engaging with the hazard perception training intervention was associated with a reduction in the number of attempts needed to pass the theory test (consistent with an increase in hazard perception skill) and a lower frequency of speeding in the first three months of post-test driving. The other interventions had mixed findings. These findings were also consistent with TRL's original work before the introduction of Hazard Perception (HP) testing in the UK in 2002. That research project found that three hours of HP training resulted in learner drivers obtaining similar average hazard perception scores to those of experienced drivers

These research projects validate the EU’s decision, as detailed in our October 2025 news item, to recommend hazard perception training for learner drivers, as set out in the EU's Directive published in November 2025.