New younger drivers shouldn’t have under-21s as passengers, says AA | EUROtoday

Drivers aged beneath 21 who’ve simply handed their exams needs to be prevented from carrying passengers of the same age for his or her first six months as drivers, the AA has mentioned.

It recommended more durable guidelines that may additionally see them handed six penalty factors for not carrying a seatbelt through the interval – which means they might lose their licence.

The motoring organisation says the proposal for a specific sort of licence focused at new, younger drivers has the potential to stop 934 critical accidents and save 58 lives on UK roads annually.

Similar measures – generally known as graduated driving licensing (GDL) – are already in place in nations together with the US, Canada, Australia and Sweden.

If it was introduced in throughout the UK, it might imply younger drivers marking their autos with G plates – with a failure to show them punishable with three factors on their licence.

GDL already exists in Northern Ireland, and the Department for Transport (DfT) has mentioned it isn’t at present contemplating it elsewhere within the UK.

The division’s figures present 290 folks had been killed and 4,669 had been severely injured in crashes on Britain’s roads final 12 months involving not less than one driver aged 17-24.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5Live, Jack Cousens, the AA’s head of highway coverage, mentioned what was noticable throughout nations with the coverage in place was “a reduction of death and serious injuries to younger drivers and their passengers” by 20% to 40%.

Mr Cousens mentioned that whereas the federal government was bringing ahead a highway security technique, in the mean time it was “not convinced” of the necessity for GDL.

“We feel that something has to be done, so we’re going to keep banging this drum,” he mentioned. “Hopefully the government will change tact and see that, actually, we need to make some changes for younger drivers.”

A DfT spokesperson mentioned: “Every death on our roads is a tragedy and our thoughts remain with the families of everyone who has lost a loved one in this way.

“Whilst we’re not contemplating graduated driving licences, we completely recognise that younger persons are disproportionately victims of tragic incidents on our roads, and we’re contemplating different measures to deal with this drawback and defend younger drivers.”