Measures to save young drivers' lives

The proposals were in line with the Lancashire Telegraph's Wasted Lives campaign, which is aimed at reducing the death toll amongst under 25s, through legislation and education.

The spotlight fell on a few key recommendations but the report contained many more. We look at the additional recommendations.

BRITAIN'S roads have seen an overall reduction in the number of fatal car crashes and horrific injuries, which tear families' lives apart.

But this is in stark contrast to the number of deaths involving young and novice drivers, which have been rising at an alarming rate.

Last year 22 young people were killed on Lancashire's roads. On a national level, 1,077 people died in crashes involving a driver aged 17-25 during 2005 - 377 were the actual young drivers themselves.

Politicians now appear to be stepping up a gear in the bid to tackle the deadly problem of inexperience behind the wheel. The Transport Committee's recently published report said: "The appalling collision rate of novice drivers clearly demonstrates that the problem must not be ignored. Do nothing is not an option."

Those involved with the committee called for the age of holding a full driving licence to be raised to 18.

Further suggestions included a 12-month training period before being able to sit a practical driving test, a zero-alcohol limit, a ban on new drivers carrying passengers and a structured driving syllabus appearing in the national curriculum.

Lesser publicised proposals in the report have also gained backing from road safety groups, instructors and driving experts.

Providing more education to improve skills and safety knowledge is high on the agenda. It is suggested that learner drivers be made to carry out lessons in different light and weather conditions.

Driving instructor Carl Green, whose Fast Pass business is based in Burnley, said: "I think it is essential that this is made compulsory. At the moment people fit lessons in when they can and they do not always experience a variety of different and often dangerous driving conditions. Then they pass their test and are faced with a situation they may not be able to deal with."

The report also said that motorway driving (to be undertaken in a dual controlled car) should be added into the practical test. "The M65 is an important road for those living in East Lancashire," said Mr Green. "It makes sense that you should be taught how to drive on it. Motorway driving involves a completely different series of techniques.

"If you have an accident on a motorway chances are the results are going to be more severe than on a slower moving road."

His views are echoed by Linda Sanderson, of the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety: " We would welcome any measures that mean drivers get more training and experience behind the wheel before they are able to drive alone or carry passengers.

"Our highest causality rates are in the 17-25 year old range, therefore we must make every effort to reduce these needless deaths by giving our young drivers as much education and experience in driving safely as possible."

Mr Green also backed the call for learners to take at least some of their tutoring with an official instructor in a dual controlled car. "A lot of people just learn with their parents or friends and you can pick up bad habits. It is better to learn with someone who is specifically trained to teach you that skill."

Mrs Sanderson added: "By making sure new drivers understand the consequences of taking risks, as well as providing as much experience with a qualified instructor on all types of road and in all conditions before they get their licence, it should help to reduce these wasted lives."

In partnership with more stringent training for drivers, the committee has called for tougher testing for driving instructors.

Mr Green was one of the youngest instructors in the country when he began tutoring at the age of 22. Now 25, he said: "I think the test process for instructors is pretty tough as it is - I'm not sure how they could make it harder. We take three tests and have three attempts to pass them. If you fail you have to wait two years to resit."

Instructors are supposed to be monitored by the Driving Standards Agency for the first 12 months and then once every four years. But Mr Green said: "I know one instructor who hasn't been checked in eight years, so that is something that could be improved upon."

The committee wants a crack down on people paying others to sit their driving tests for them. Mr Green said: "I have heard of people completing the practical test on behalf of someone else, but I don't know how much of a problem that is locally.

"It is incredibly important that all drivers are properly licensed and insured, otherwise the roads become a dangerous place to be."

However, Mr Green said that the plan for a compulsory 12-month training period was possibly too draconian: "I have had students who have passed with less than 20 lessons and have made excellent drivers. it would be unfair to make them wait.

"But there are other students who would need a full year. I think it is an issue of judgement."

The Transport Committee report stated: "The scale of deaths and injuries amongst novice drivers and the victims of their inexperience indicates the current regulatory regime is failing."

This is a view shared by expert Adrian Shurmer, chairman of the Driver Awareness training organisation and author of driving skills book Mind How You Go. Supporting the proposals for a revamp of the training system, Mr Shurmer, a former policeman, said: "The current system is a disaster. It is no use giving lots of tuition if the information is not going to get through.

"You can instruct a person in the basics, like how to use a clutch, but when it comes to personal safety in a car you need to teach them how to think and how to be responsible for themselves.

He added: "Education is the only answer but it has got to be the right education."

Mr Shurmer, of Great Harwood, gives driving awareness courses to young footballers at both Bolton Wanderers and Manchester United. He said: "Young lads full of ego driving fast cars don't want to be lectured. At the moment it's the big thing to be the one making your tyres squeal but it needs to be the big thing to think about how you are driving."

Dismissing the committees suggestion that harsher penalties, such as having your vehicle seized, could lead to fewer accidents, Mr Shurmer said: "You need to educate people in the first place and then have a firm law and order policy in place - but it is no use doing that until people know how to drive responsibly.

"Drivers need education not speed cameras, or humps, or having their car taken away."

Mr Shurmer did lend his support to the committee's plan to have insurers reduce their prices for learner drivers so they could afford more lessons before they take their test. "The insurance companies need to reward people for seeking out driver education and the government needs to enforce that," he said. But Kelly Ostler, of the Association of British Insurers, said that such a move was a long way off and said: "Prices will only come down for young drivers when their accident rates come down too."

The Transport Committee is urging the Department of Transport to take action on its recommendations as swiftly as possible. The report said: "If the whole package of recommendations in this report were to be implemented, the UK would then have one of the most rigorous driver training, testing and post-test regimes in Europe."