P-platers’ cars fitted with AI technology to monitor for risky behaviour in bid to reduce youth fatalities

P-platers’ cars will be fitted with AI technology to monitor for risky behaviour in a bid to reduce the shocking number of deaths among young drivers. In a world-first, up to 2300 red P-platers across Western Australia, Victoria and Queensland will be monitored thanks to a new experimental trial by the University of Melbourne. The drivers are scored through an app, using a GPS to track harsh acceleration and braking patterns, speeding and drowsiness. Each driver is also given access to $120 via a virtual bank account, which can be withdrawn at the end of the six-month trial. The money is deducted each time the driver fails to meet their safety targets, giving participants the opportunity to rectify their bad driving habits and earn the money back the following month. Drivers are also given personalised feedback via the app’s AI function, providing weekly tools on how to improve their driving. University of Melbourne Transport, Health and Urban Systems research lab director Professor Mark Stevenson said the trial’s financial incentive tried to mimic real-world car insurance policies. “An insurance policy isn’t just based on where you park your car and how old you are, they reflect actual driving behaviour . . . so if you’re a good driver, you pay less of a premium,” he told The West Australian. He said the trial focused on crash reduction, adding that provisional drivers were more likely to be involved in car accidents because they lacked years of experience. “(P-platers) lack things like perception and what we call cognitive blindness, where you might see a cyclist, but don’t process it, and therefore you’re coming into conflict with a vulnerable road user like a cyclist or pedestrian,” he said. “There are limitations to how we perceive things in the environment, and they can change with enormous amounts of experience, but they take time to develop, rather than innately having them the minute you’ve got your provisional license. “We also see very high rates of inattention and periods of impulsivity, which is very prevalent in adolescents or young adults.” Professor Stevenson said the technology would be pitched to various State Governments once the trial had concluded. If adopted, he said governments could apply real-world financial incentives like cheaper registration fees and third-party insurance to provisional drivers. “Every jurisdiction in Australia has apps to log hours for learner drivers . . . this sort of technology could be integrated into those sorts of apps, so that once they transition from learners and they go straight into their P-plate, they have this app,” he said. “I won’t say it’s akin to seatbelts and random breath-testing, but it could play quite a part in terms of changing high-risk young drivers and reducing their crash rates.” It comes less than two years after Perth teenager Nick Campo was killed on the way to a Leederville nightclub in a horror crash with four mates after leaving his 18th birthday party in July 2024. The P-plate driver — who cannot be named because he was 17 at the time of the crash — reached 133km/h on North Lake Road in his Toyota Hilux and was seen driving through a red light just moments before the tragedy unfolded. The court was told the driver and three passengers had taken cocaine, and were racing to beat the club’s lock-out time. He was jailed for three years and two months in June last year. Mr Campo’s mother, Bianca Campo, said her “broken” family was disappointed with the sentence. “Nick was a really good kid and he was very much loved by all of us,” she said at the time. “Please, just make sure your kids, they know to do the right thing when they get into cars, because this is like a pain that’s unbearable.” In December 2024, the WA Government adopted Tom’s Law, restricting red P-platers to carrying just one passenger in a bid to reduce distractions. Drivers caught flouting the law can be slapped with a $200 fine and two demerit points. The legislation was introduced in the wake of the death of 15-year-old Tom Saffioti, who died when the car he was a passenger in ploughed into a tree.