Development and evaluation of an on-ride motorcycle coaching program in Victoria: how well was VicRide implemented and received by the target novice motorcycle riders?

VicRoads initiated a large-scale trial of a newly developed ‘VicRide on-road coaching program’ for recently licensed motorcyclists in Victoria. The George Institute for Global Health was commissioned to evaluate VicRide primarily to determine its effectiveness in reducing crash rates for the target group via a randomised control trial. A process evaluation was also conducted to examine program delivery in parallel with the outcome evaluation. The objective of this paper is to present the process evaluation results. Data were sourced from the coaches, the program delivery organisation, and VicRide participants. Willingness to pay for VicRide was also obtained from the target novice motorcyclists. Overall the results suggest that VicRide was delivered as intended by the design on most aspects. However, the trial also identified numerous barriers to achieve high completion rates for both the preparation activity and program attendance and VicRide as a road safety intervention was valued significantly less by program participants than control riders who had not yet completed the program. Though the low completion rates may have negatively impacted the program outcomes, the barriers to completion may also reflect that individualised programs such as VicRide are practically challenging to standardise and implement as a state-wide intervention. These may be improved if all learning opportunities are contained within program attendance and the program is made mandatory. Nevertheless, these considerations are meaningful only if and when VicRide and other similar programs demonstrate detectable road safety value including crash and casualty reductions, reduced risk taking behaviours and improved safety attitudes.