The Institute of Advanced Motorists have recently held their Christmas lunch and many discussions about the safety of young drivers took place. Mike Penning is the Road safety Minister and he delivered a speech about how road safety in the UK can be improved and how the number of deaths of young people on the roads can be reduced.
In his speech he said, “The current driving test we have is no longer acceptable and needs to be reformed. Also we need to see changes in the pass plus scheme as it is only reducing the number of road deaths in young people by around 1%.”He went on to say that a test with a focus on real road conditions should be the ultimate goal for the driving test.
He also mentioned that there should be post-test education so young drivers can be taught the basic skills they need in order to become a good driver. He mentioned reforms that are being enforced by the government so that younger drivers become safer, including allowing learner drivers to drive on motorways as long as there is a qualified driving instructor in the car with them.
The Chief Executive of the Institute of Advanced Motorists is Simon Best and he has said, “Allowing learner drivers to practice on the motorway is a very important step to improving road safety but we would also like to see more focus on teaching students how to drive on rural roads which are statistically the most dangerous roads in the country.”
The Institute of Advanced Motorists has recently completed a survey which shows some worrying ideas that young people have towards driving. Around 60% of male drivers who have recently passed their test think they are better drivers than average but only 30% of women feel the same way.
The actual statistics reflect a very different picture as young drivers are the most likely to be involved in an accident on the roads and young men are far more likely to be injured or killed when compared with young women or older drivers.
