Report proposes radical changes for novice drivers

A new government-commissioned report from TRL (formerly the Transport Research Laboratory), has suggested a complete overhaul of novice driver education.The report has been written in an attempt to tackle the ‘overrepresentation of young novice drivers in road collisions’ in the UK and what TRL considers to be the major contributory factors: youth and inexperience.

The main proposals include a form of Graduated Driver Licencing (GDL), some of the stages of which would include:
■■ A minimum one-year ‘learner stage’ during which drivers would have to accrue at least 100 hours of daytime and 20 hours of night-time practice under supervision.
■■ On passing the test, there would then be a probationary period of one year.
■■ Drivers under the age of 30 would be banned from carrying any passengers also under 30.
■■ There would also be a ban on all mobile phone use (including hands-free phones) and a lower alcohol limit.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “Young drivers drive around 5% of all the miles driven in Britain but are involved in about 20% of the crashes where someone is killed or seriously injured.
“We are committed to improving safety for young drivers and reducing their insurance costs. That is why we are publishing a green paper later in the year setting out our proposals. This will include a discussion about how people learn to drive. The research report has been produced by the Transport Research Laboratory under commission by the Department for Transport and it, among other things, has informed the green paper.” DIA chief examiner Mike Frisby commented: “We wouldn’t necessarily agree with all these proposals, especially those based on a form of GDL. Restriction will not resolve the problem of collisions involving young drivers: training will.

It is possible to develop young people’s ability to assess risk and improve their attitude to risk from a younger age. Client-centered learning, risk profiling individuals to understand their attitude to risk and developing training that specifically tackles risk management issues has been shown to work. “It’s our belief that the focus regulation should not be mandatory post-test restrictions, but instead a focus on a mandatory pre-test minimum learning programme, taught by a qualified instructor with a much more robust test to gain a full licence, followed by a post-test advanced qualification to be taken within a year.” DIA will be shortly publishing its own paper on the development of driver education and we continue to lobby and campaign on this critical agenda to ensure the voice of the driver trainer is heard, and listened to.