Calls are growing for the introduction of Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL), which would prevent newly qualified drivers carrying passengers of the same age and driving in the early hours for six months.
The AA pointed out that an average of five people per day are killed on UK roads, with one in five young drivers crashing within a year of passing their test and more than 1,500 killed or seriously injured each year.
AA president Edmund King OBE said: ‘The AA believes we need a system of graduated learning with a logbook whereby all learners need to demonstrate their skills on all types of roads and crucially on rural roads where 71% of new driver fatal crashes occur, and in different weather conditions and different times of day or night.
‘Once they have passed their test the driver shouldn’t be allowed to carry same age passengers for at least six months as research shows that with every same-age passenger, they are four times more likely to crash.'
RoadPeace, the national charity for road crash victims, has issued an open letter to the incoming government urging them to introduce a GDL system.
The letter, which has been signed by over 1900 people in two weeks, has now been sent to all political parties, calling for the new law to be introduced within the first 100 days of the next Parliament.
Many of the signatories are bereaved parents whose sons and daughters were killed in young driver crashes, and part of the GDL campaign group Forget-me-not Families Uniting, which was launched in April 2024.
The letter follows the publication of the Road Safety Manifesto 2024 in May, co-ordinated by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS), which has the support of almost 100 UK road safety organisations, including RoadPeace.
The manifesto calls for the next government to adopt four key priorities to reduce road death and injury – one of those priorities is GDL.
Roadpeace said GDL would ensure that young, novice drivers are given the time and space they need to become safe and competent drivers before they face high-risk situations.
It said a new law could mean that novice drivers are unable to carry peer-aged passengers and are unable to drive between midnight and 4am, for the first six months after passing their test
RoadPeace CEO Nick Simmons said: ‘Bereaved families, academics and road safety bodies have repeatedly called for the introduction of a Graduated Driving Licensing system in the UK for decades to ensure that young drivers and passengers are far better protected from road harm.
‘However, these calls have been ignored, with concerns cited about restricting young people’s freedom.
‘But as bereaved parents know all too well – nothing is more restrictive on a young person’s freedom than a fatal road crash.’
