In a bid to cut the number of road accidents involving young people, the government is currently deliberating new ideas that would see changes in young people’s driving licences and the methods in which they are acquired.

What The New Rules May Include:

The new rules have yet to be formalised but may include the following:

• A 12 month probationary licence for 18 year olds
• Curfews between 10 pm and 5 am if no passengers over 30 are in the vehicle
• Waiting up to a year longer than usual to take driving test

Industry Experts Discuss

The Green Paper that will be published by the government will detail changes that have been sparked by information from the Transport research Laboratory report. The report recommends that drivers go through a ‘learner stage’ at the age of 17 where they would have a supervised 100 hours of day time and 20 hours of night time driving practice.

Age 18 could become the earliest age when drivers can take a test and they must get a probationary licence following a successful test and display a badge indicating their newness to driving. Curfews could also be enforced at this stage.

A spokesperson for the DfT 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.”

RAC director, Stephen Glaister said that the new proposals were welcomed: “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.”

Conversely, Edmund King from the AA said that the proposals were not addressing the problem of young drivers correctly. In a BBC interview he said: “You should prepare young drivers to be safe when they get their licence rather than give them their licence and then restrict them,”

Road Accidents Involving young People

There are many different sources which support the idea there is a disproportionate amount of road accidents involving people in relation to the total number of vehicles on the roads.

Claiming Compensation For A Road Traffic Accident

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Contact First Personal Injury to discuss your potential compensation claim today by ringing 0333 358 2345 or by filling out the online claims form.