Government rules out Graduated Driving Licences
The UK government has ruled out introducing graduated driving licences for young drivers, despite pressure from a number of road safety bodies.
Speaking during a parliamentary debate this week, future of roads minister Lilian Greenwood said there were no plans to introduce graduated driving licences, which have been championed by a number of road safety organisations.
A graduated driving licence scheme is intended to improve road safety by imposing certain restrictions on newly-qualified drivers around driving under supervision, driving during certain hours, and passenger numbers.
Greenwood said: “Despite the two-year probation period for all new drivers introduced in 1995, in terms of population and the number of miles driven, 17-to-24-year-olds, particularly young men, remain one of the highest fatality risk groups both as car drivers and passengers.”
Road fatalities
She continued: “Whilst the latest statistics show that the number of young drivers killed on our roads has fallen by 80% since 1990, this cannot be a reason for complacency – 90 deaths, which was the number in 2023, is 90 too many.
“Whilst we are not considering graduated driving licences, we absolutely recognise that young people are disproportionately victims of tragic collisions on our roads, and that is why we are exploring options to tackle the root causes of this without unfairly penalising young drivers.
“This government wants to ensure young people’s access to employment, education and other opportunities, whilst also keeping them safe on the roads.”
AA backs Graduated Driving Licences
The AA Charitable Trust has long advocated the introduction of a graduated driving licence scheme.
Director Edmund King said: “There are far too many weekends when we hear about carnage on our roads often involving three or four teenagers in a car. There is solid evidence from other countries that measures such as restricting the number of peer-age passengers in the cars of new drivers under 21 years of age would save between 20% to 40% casualties of young drivers and passengers.
“In the UK we believe this could save up to 58 lives per year. The collision involving three teenagers killed in a crash in Wakefield on Friday night just brings home the urgency of why action is required.”
Meanwhile, RAC head of policy Simon Williams added:
“Despite the future of roads minister firmly ruling out graduated driver licensing in Tuesday’s parliamentary debate on road safety for young drivers, it’s clear the government intends to take action to save lives. We’re pleased to hear this and are keen to find out what measures it believes will make the biggest difference, especially given so many young drivers are involved in collisions in their first year of driving.”
