New drivers under the age of 21 in the UK should be banned from carrying passengers of a comparable age for six months after passing the test, a motoring organization has urged.
The AA estimated that the introduction of a graduated driving license (GDL) would save at least 58 lives and prevent 934 people from being seriously injured in road traffic accidents each year.
The AA would like to see motorists with a graduated “G” driver's license plate receive six penalty points for not wearing a seatbelt, which would mean they would lose their licence.
The graduated driving license is already used in several countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia and Sweden.
Department for Transport (DfT) figures show that 290 people were killed and 4,669 seriously injured in accidents on British roads last year in incidents involving at least one driver aged between 17 and 24.
AA chief executive Jakob Pfaudler said: “Not only is this a tragic loss of life, it contributes to the burden of high insurance premiums for young drivers. These premiums should fall when there is evidence of a reduction in the number of young drivers and passengers killed and seriously injured.
“It has been shown in other countries that obtaining graduated driver's licenses significantly reduces road deaths and serious injuries. “We call on the transport secretary to make simple and pragmatic changes to the licensing process so that young people are better protected in their first months of independent driving.”
Under the Conservative government, the DfT announced in July 2019 that it was considering introducing the GDL in England, but the evaluation was paused in autumn 2020, partly due to the potential impact on youth employment.
The most popular element of the AA proposal, according to an online survey of 10,566 of its members, was passenger restrictions, with 33% of respondents saying they would support them.
Last week, North West Wales chief coroner Kate Robertson raised concerns about newly qualified young drivers carrying passengers after an inquest into the deaths of four teenagers who drowned when their car rolled into a ditch on a journey. to Snowdonia in November. last year.
Crystal Owen, whose son Harvey was one of them, told the Sunday Times that a ban could have saved their lives.
He said he later learned that graduated licenses existed in other countries. “I thought, 'What the hell is going on? Why is this or some version of it not law?'”
He added: “Their brains are not fully formed, so we have other restrictions on things like buying cigarettes.”
Owen has co-founded a campaign group, Overlook-me-not Households Uniting, which calls for the introduction of a GDL and has launched a petition on Cambio.org which says: “Given that one in five newly qualified drivers crashes during their first year and Young drivers are at greater risk of being involved in a fatal crash when carrying passengers their own age, there is an urgent need to act now to save lives. “
A DfT spokesperson said: “While we are not considering graduated driving licences, we absolutely recognize that young people are disproportionately victims of tragic incidents on our roads, and we are considering further measures to address this issue and protect young drivers. “That is why we are committed to implementing a new road safety strategy, the first in more than a decade, and we will set out the next steps in due course.”
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