Plan to slash road deaths by pushing back driving age

 
Pa11 October 2013

Teenagers face having to wait an extra year before being allowed to take a driving test under proposals being looked at by the Government.

Tighter rules aimed at cutting the number of accidents involving young motorists have been put forward that include issuing probationary licences only from the age of 18.

The Government-commissioned report by the Transport Research Laboratory suggests introducing a 12 month "learner stage" that would require drivers to clock up at least 100 hours of daytime and 20 hours of night-time supervised practice.

For the first year, newly qualified drivers would be hit by a curfew running between 10pm and 5am unless they were carrying a passenger aged over 30, as well as a ban on carrying anyone younger than that age if they were under it themselves.

More than one fifth of deaths on Britain's roads in 2011 involved drivers aged 17 to 24, and around 10% of novice drivers are caught committing an offence within their probationary period.

A DfT spokesman said: "Young drivers drive around 5% of all the miles driven in Britain, but are involved in about 20% of the crashes where someone is killed or seriously injured.

"We are committed to improving safety for young drivers and reducing their insurance costs - that is why we are publishing a Green Paper later in the year setting out our proposals. This will include a discussion about how people learn to drive.

"The research report has been produced by the Transport Research Laboratory under commission by the Department for Transport and it, amongst other things, has informed the Green Paper."

Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: "Young people are four times more likely to die in a road accident than as a result of drink or drugs. Yet as a society we seem to turn a blind eye to the carnage. If this was any other area of public health there would be an outcry.

"Circumstances conspire against young drivers. Their youth and lack of experience create a deadly mix which means one in five will have an accident within the first six months of passing their test.

"Our own research shows that putting certain restrictions on young drivers allows them to rapidly build up live-saving experience in the safest possible way. Putting a firm number on casualty reduction is hard because of the pick and mix approach to graduate licensing. But the evidence suggests that a full package of measures could reduce fatalities by anything up to 60%.

"We should all have an interest in preserving young drivers' lives rather than exposing them to undue risk at the stage of their driving careers where they are most vulnerable. This is about ensuring their long term safety and mobility. Not curtailing it."

AA President Edmund King said: "There are many proposals in the report with merit and which are advocated by the AA.

"Road safety on the national curriculum is something we have long campaigned for and I am pleased to see it being recommended here. Likewise we would also support learner drivers being allowed on motorways with their instructor.

"However, at the extreme end this report could be seen as just recommending taking novice drivers off the road by regulation and restriction rather than helping them develop the right attitudes and skills to provide them with the mobility they need.

"Rather than compensating the proposed significant new restrictions through earlier access to the roads under supervision the authors propose delaying and extending the driving development process to the point where even some 30 years olds will be restricted in whom they can carry as passengers.

"This academic report has raised a number of options for debate and careful consideration. The question is how many of its recommendations will be acceptable to the government and public at large."

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