Young drivers set to be BANNED from giving their friends a lift to stop peer-pressure crashes
YOUNG drivers are set to be banned from giving their friends a lift in a bid to stop peer-pressure crashes.
Ministers are considering plans to stop new drivers under the age of 25 from carrying young passengers, as part of a “graduated driving licence”.
The ban would last for 12 months after the young driver gets their licence.
Support for Victims of Road Crashes, a group which advises the Department for Transport, has backed the ban.
Its advocates include mum Sharron Huddleston, 52, from Cumbria, whose daughter Caitlin, 18, was killed in a car crash after taking a lift with a friend who had passed her test four months earlier and who also died.
Sharron told the : “It has left a huge, gaping hole in our family.
“Every Christmas, every birthday, it is just devastating.”
“There is nothing I can do to bring Caitlin back but I am determined, in her memory, to ensure that no other family goes through the pain and agony that we go through every day.”
Roads minister Richard Holden will consider the planned amendment to the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act at a meeting which Sharron will attend on May 16.
Holden is also experimenting with graduated learning, where drivers are assessed in a fuller range of road conditions.
He said that road traffic crashes are the greatest single cause of death of people between 15 and 12 in the OECD, a club of rich countries.
Young drivers, who only make up six per cent of licence holders, account for over one in five fatal and serious crashes.
Under current rules, new drivers must pass a probation period of two years where picking up just six points will lose them their licence.
But critics note that drivers under the age of 25 are responsible for fewer collisions than those aged over 85.
BRAKING POINT
Road safety experts from Brake said that new drivers with passengers of a similar age are four times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than when they are driving alone.
Between 2014 and 2020, 590 young drivers and 357 passengers under the age of 25 died in car crashes.
Previous bids to introduce a ban when Theresa May was Prime Minister stalled because of concerns about young people’s free movement.
Jo Shiner, the UK’s most senior police officer for roads, said: “I am very openly a supporter of the graduated driving licence.”
New drivers in Ireland face a two-year probation period, and must display “N” novice plates and abide by lower drink-drive limits.
In Australia, New Zealand, and the US, young motorists must be accompanied by an experienced driver at night and obey limits on passenger numbers.
The Department for Transport said: “Every death or serious injury on our roads is a tragedy and we continue to work tirelessly to improve road safety for all users.
“Our approach to improving safety for new and novice drivers is through new technology and improving education, while reinforcing vital road safety messages through our Think! campaign.”