tackling young driver crashes
Young people age 15-24 are
more likely to die in a
preventable road crash than
they are to die from any other
single cause1.
Once young people hit 17 many of them start their driving
career and, sadly, many of them find it’s not anywhere near
as fun as they thought. In fact, while young drivers aged
between 17-24 account for 12% of licence holders, they are
involved in one in four road deaths and serious injuries2.
One in five will crash in their first six months after passing
their test3 and, every year, more than 3,300 young drivers
and passengers aged 17-24 are killed or suffer a
life-changing serious injury as a result of a road crash,
taking many more innocent road users of all ages with
them4. There is something simple that we can do to stop
this carnage. By changing the way that people learn to
drive we can make an incredible difference.
Brake, the Association of British Insurers and
The Co-operative Insurance call for urgent action by the
Government to tackle the number of tragic deaths and
serious crashes involving young people on our roads
each year.
Too young to die campaign summary
Brake’s Too young to die campaign calls for a system of
graduated driver licensing, to allow new drivers to build
their driving skills and experience gradually, while their
exposure to higher risk driving situations is restricted.
Brake recommends the following measures as part
of this system:
Learners
Brake is proposing that:
• A minimum learning period of one year before learner
drivers can take their practical driving test, theory test
and hazard awareness test.
• The learner’s licence should not be fully valid until the
learner driver has received a minimum of 10 hours’
professional tuition in a car with dual controls.
• Learner drivers, as at present, should not be allowed to
drive unsupervised, but the minimum age of
accompanying drivers should be raised to at least 25.
• Accompanying drivers should also be registered as
‘approved accompanying drivers’ by completing a
questionnaire to prove their suitability.
• Learner drivers should have the same restrictions placed
upon them as novice drivers (see below).
Novice drivers:
Brake is proposing that:
• Drivers should hold a ‘novice’ licence for a recommended
two years after passing a practical driving test.
• Novice drivers should be allowed to drive unsupervised,
but there should be certain restrictions on their driving,
including:
E Novice drivers should only carry passengers who are
younger than 25 under supervision. Parents who are
novice drivers and need to carry their own children
should be exempted.
E Novice drivers should not be permitted to drive at
night, for the recommended period of 11pm-6am, un
less supervised or travelling directly from home to
work or school.
E Novice drivers should have a zero tolerance drink drive
limit of 20mg of alcohol per 100ml blood5.
E Novice drivers should not drive on motorways.
• Novice drivers should be restricted in the size of engine
they can drive.
• Any driving offences, or failure to comply with the
restrictions on ‘novice’ drivers during this period, should
result in automatic disqualification.
• Novice drivers should be required to take a further 10
hours of professional tuition, during which they must
drive on motorways and at night.
• Novice drivers should be required to pass a second
driving test at the end of the two year period to help
ensure safe driving on all types of roads.
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Education and awareness
Brake is proposing that:
• Road safety should be a compulsory part of the national
curriculum in schools and should teach young people
about the risks they face as a novice driver or young
passenger, and how to minimise these risks.
• The government should conduct widespread information
campaigns to support the introduction of a new regime of
driver licensing and to promote safer driving among
young people.
Research basis for these recommendations
Young drivers are more at risk on the roads because their
inexperience means they have a poorer ability to spot
hazards (and therefore to cope with risky situations) and
their youth means a greater tendency to engage in risky
driving behaviour. Both of these problems need to be
addressed within regulations on learning to drive.
When devising the recommendations set out above,
the following evidence was considered:
Length of learning
Research shows that the younger and more inexperienced
a driver is, the greater their crash risk6, but the UK system
allows eager young 17 year olds to be out unsupervised on
public roads exceptionally quickly. In the UK drivers can go
from never having driven to being fully licensed in a few
months or even weeks. Each year, 50,000 17 year-olds in
the UK pass their driving test with less than six months’
driving experience7. This gives them very little time to
develop experience while under the relative safety of
supervision.
A minimum learning period of one year before taking a
theory or practical test means that all learner drivers
would have time to develop experience under full
supervision before being allowed out alone. It would also
prevent 17 year olds from having a licence to drive
unsupervised. An additional ‘novice’ driver stage would
give young drivers, from 18 years old, the freedom of
having a driving licence while protecting them from
situations that are known to present big risks to their
safety at this early stage in their driving career.
Night time driving
Young drivers are at greater risk of crashing at night. This
is primarily due to the additional risks that young drivers
take at this time of the day when driving for recreational
purposes8. Research by University College London found
that in the UK, young male drivers aged 17-20 are seven
times more at risk than all male drivers, but between the
hours of 2am and 5am their risk is 17 times higher9. This is
why restrictions on night-time driving are vital to tackling
young driver crashes. However, as research shows that
recreational driving is the problem, journeys to and from
home and work or school could be treated as exceptions,
which would prevent unfair restrictions on young people
who live in rural areas and therefore have less access to
public transport.
Passengers
Young drivers are more likely to crash if they have their
peers in the car with them. Research shows that peer
pressure can encourage bad driving and result in drivers
‘showing off’ to their passengers, as well as causing
distraction10. With two or more passengers, the fatal crash
risk for 16-19 year-old drivers is more than five times what
it is when driving alone11. This is why restrictions on
passengers for novice drivers would help to keep young
drivers and passengers safe on the roads.
Drink driving
Alcohol is a prevalent risk factor for young drivers. Young
drivers are twice as likely to be recorded as impaired by
alcohol after crashing than older drivers and they have
more drink drive crashes per licence holder or per mile
travelled than any other age group12. Taking a zero
tolerance stance on drink driving means there are no
excuses and no confusion; it’s none for the road.
Evidence from abroad
An analysis of a similar learner driver system in New
Zealand by the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory
showed that following its introduction, there was a
reduction in car crash injuries of 23% for 15-19 year olds
and 12% for 20-24 year olds.
In Michigan research has found that young people are 11%
less likely to be killed or injured on roads than their
parents were thanks to their reformed system of learner
licensing13. Drivers must complete three stages of
education and on-road training to gain two levels of
intermediate licence and finally the full licence. Holders
of the intermediate licences face restrictions on
unaccompanied and night-time driving and licence
withdrawal if offences are committed.
In Washington annual deaths and serious injuries among
16 and 17 year old novice drivers reduced by 59% after the
introduction of a driving curfew between 1-5am for the first
year; a ban on carrying teenage passengers for the first six
months and a licence suspension for under-18s of up to six
months for committing two or more violations.
Evidence from the UK
In 2007, the Transport Select Committee reviewed the
evidence available and recommended a host of measures
to overhaul the way people learn to drive in the UK. They
called for Graduated Driver Licensing including a
minimum 12-month learner period; raising the age of
unaccompanied driving to 18; a maximum blood alcohol
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limit of 20mg per 100ml of blood for up to 12 months after
passing the test; a ban on passengers aged 10-20 years
between 11pm and 5am for a year; and a learning
programme undertaken and examined by an Approved
Driving Instructor.
More recently, Dr Sarah Jones from the University of
Cardiff conducted research into the impact of a restricted
system of learning to drive would have on casualties in the
UK and found that a system as advocated above has the
potential to save 200 lives annually and 14,000 casualties14.
She estimated that it would also save the UK economy
£890million through the prevention of costly casualties.
Public support
Research suggests that the public would willingly accept
such a system, although it would be more widely accepted
if it was introduced alongside good communications
explaining the benefits of protecting young drivers from the
situations where they face the most risk. Research into the
attitudes of young people in Scotland towards learning to
drive found that 84% of young females and 63% of young
males supported a minimum period of learning to drive15.
The devastation caused by inexperience
and risk taking
On Sunday 3rd October 2004, Ashley Brixey, 20, was killed by
a young drunk and drugged driver coming back from a night
out with friends.
Ashley got into the back of a friend’s car, a 17 year-old girl
got into the passenger seat and Ashley’s friend Richard
Joyce got behind the wheel. Richard was twice over the legal
drink drive limit and had had an abusive level of drugs in his
system.
He lost control on a left-hand bend, and the car went up an
embankment, through a garden fence and landed upside
down in a swimming pool. The girl was thrown from the car
into the pool and got out. The driver also got out but Ashley
had been knocked unconscious and didn’t make it. He
drowned. By the time the emergency services got there he
was already dead.
Kelly
In July 2006, Kelly Woodward, 19, died at the scene of the
crash in Billingham, Middlesbrough.
Kelly was leaving a house-warming party and was offered a
lift by Andrew Burrell, 19, who had only passed his test two
months earlier. He was twice over the drink-drive limit and
was unable to keep control of the car. The car crashed into a
tree. Burrell had been travelling at no less than 53mph.
End Notes
Adrian
Adrian Davison, 18, was killed just after midnight on 4
November 2002, on the A660, near Bramhope. He had been
on a night out with his best friend Nigel Rhodes, 18, who
was driving them home. They had been drinking and Nigel's
blood alcohol count was about twice the legal limit. Adrian
spoke to his dad, Tony Davison, on his mobile just minutes
before the crash, to say they were on their way home.
Just after midnight, Nigel overtook another car at speed
and pulled back in, narrowly missing a pedestrian island in
the middle of the road. He struggled to regain control and
the car shot across the carriageway and crashed. Nigel died
instantly and Adrian died at the scene of the crash a short
time later.
Tony is supporting calls for the introduction of Graduated
Driver Licensing and will be attending the launch of the
campaign for the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety.
Since Adrian’s death, Tony has devoted himself to delivering
2young2die workshops, an education project run by Brake
and sponsored by The Co-operative Insurance. Tony visits
secondary schools and army bases to deliver presentations
to young people about the dangers of taking risks behind
the wheel.
Brake
stopping the carnage
Ashley
1
Death registrations in England and Wales, ONS, 2010
Reported road accidents involving young car drivers: Great Britain 2009,
DfT, 2011
3
Learning to Drive: a consultation paper, DSA, 2008
4
Reported road casualties Great Britain 2009, DfT, 2010
5
Brake supports a 20mg alcohol per 100ml blood drink driving limit for all
drivers. However, while a higher limit remains, Brake believes that there
should be a zero tolerance approach to drink driving for novice drivers.
6
Cohort study of learner and novice drivers: Part 3, Accidents, offences and
driving experience in the first three years of driving, TRL Project Report 111,
1995.
7
Young drivers: reducing death on the road, ABI, 2006
8
Young driver accidents in the UK: the influence of age, experience, and
time of day, The University of Nottingham, 2006, see
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16600166
9
Night-time Accidents, Centre for Transport Studies, University College
London, 2005.
10
Passenger distractions among adolescent drivers, University of California,
2008 see http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2008.03.003
11
The situational risks of young drivers: the influence of passengers, time of
day, and day of week on accident rates, Doherty, S.T, Audrey, J.C and
MacGregor, C., 1998 ; see also Carrying Passengers as a risk factor for
crashes fatal to 16- and 17-year-old drivers, Chen, L.H, Baker, S.P., et al, ,
Jama, 2000.
12
Road Casualties Great Britain 2009, DfT, 2010
13
Teenagers in Michigan, University of Michigan Transportation Research
Institute, 2008
14
Restricting young drivers, The University of Cardiff, 2010
15
National Debate on Young Drivers' Safety: Final Report, Transport Scotland,
2011.
2
PO Box 548, Huddersfield HD1 2XZ. Tel: 01484 559909 Fax: 01484 55998
supporting the victims e-mail: [email protected] websites: www.brake.org.uk www.roadsafetyweek.org
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