National Road Victim Month: Will a graduated driving licensing scheme help keep younger drivers safe?

August is National Road Victim Month; a month were road safety and key issues surrounding this is brought to the fore by charity Road Peace to raise awareness of the number of fatalities on our roads and how more needs to be done to prevent these.

Every day five people are killed on our roads and nearly 80 are seriously injured. In 2022 alone 4,935 people were either killed or seriously injured on our roads which is completely unacceptable. One of the key groups that are disproportionately impacted by this are young drivers and as a consequence their families.

Young drivers most at risk

One in five drivers have a crash within the first year of passing their test and this is mainly due to youth and inexperience. It's drivers aged 17 to 24 who are most at risk, they tend to be more risk averse, less likely to think about the consequence of their actions and be more impulsive.

Graduated driving licences 

Over the last few months there has been increased coverage in the press about graduated driving licences (GDL’s) with road safety campaigners such as Road Peace and BRAKE aiming to raise the awareness of these with a view to the government introducing them here. They are also referred to as a Progressive Licensing system.

The aim of the GDL is to try and help prevent such tragedies occurring our on roads by introducing elements to a young drivers progression. This could include things such as:-

• A minimum learning period.
• Restrictions on driving at night.
• Restrictions on the number of passengers in a vehicle at any one time.

A similar system was introduced in New Zealand in 1987 following which they saw a 23% reduction in injuries caused by a crash in 15 to 19-year-olds and a 12% reduction in 20 to 24-year-olds.

A Ten Minute Rule Bill for GDL’s to be introduced was put before Parliament in May by Kim Leadbeater MP, and was unopposed. The position on this going forward is unclear but I'm aware that Kim Leadbeater remains a passionate supporter of these being introduced as law.

Conclusion

I've seen first-hand the devasting impact that serious injuries and deaths on our roads cause, made all the worse by the fact that these should be avoidable with more care and attention. 

I sincerely hope that government approve the introduction of GDL’s here as this should go along way to helping significantly reduce the number of deaths and injuries on our roads.

Find out more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in supporting people and families affected by road collisions at our dedicated road traffic accidents section.