Road safety for young drivers

Younger driver collision statistics

Younger car drivers (aged between 17 and 24) account for a relatively large proportion of both car driver casualties and casualties in collisions involving cars.

Casualties from collisions involving a younger car driver include: the younger car driver themselves, the passengers of the cars driven by younger drivers and all other casualties (including drivers and passenger of other vehicles, or other road users for example pedestrians).

Source: Department for Transport (DfT), Reported road casualties Great Britain: older and younger driver factsheets, 2023, Younger driver factsheet: data tables, Tables 1 and 2

Casualties are broken down into fatalities (people killed in road collisions), and those injured (further split into seriously and slightly injured based on type of injury sustained). Killed and seriously injured casualties are commonly grouped together as ‘KSIs’.

The chart below shows there is an increased KSI rate for younger car drivers. In particular, males aged 17 to 24 are 4 times as likely to be killed or seriously injured while driving compared with all car drivers aged 25 or over.

Source: Department for Transport (DfT), Reported road casualties Great Britain: older and younger driver factsheets, 2023, Younger driver factsheet: data tables, Chart 1

According to DfT statistics:

• In 2023, a younger driver was involved in around a fifth of all killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties from collisions involving cars.
• Between 2004 and 2023 KSI casualties from a collision involving at least one younger car driver decreased from 12,257 to 4,959, a fall of 60%. Those involving other aged car drivers decreased from 31,130 to 19,349, a fall of 38%.
• Between 2019 and 2023, 48% of KSI casualties in younger car driver collisions occurred on rural roads, compared to 42% for other aged car drivers collisions.
• Between 2019 and 2023, 16% of younger car drivers involved in KSI collisions did not wear seatbelts, which was the highest proportion of all age groups. In comparison, the lowest percentage was seen in the 70 and above age group with 4% and the average was 10%.

Existing restrictions on new drivers

New drivers are subject to extra restrictions through the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995. Under the provisions on that Act, on acquiring their first full licence, a new driver is on probation for two years, regardless of their age.

Whereas other drivers can accrue up to 12 points before they face disqualification, a new driver is subject to a limit of six penalty points received for any driving offences, which includes any that they received during their learning stage. If six or more points are received, a driver’s licence is revoked and they must apply again for a provisional licence, and re-take their practical and theory tests.

Graduated Driving Licences (GDL)

Graduated Driving Licensing (GDL) means imposing post-test licence restrictions such as controls on the time of day the restricted licence holder can drive unsupervised, or restrictions on the passengers they can carry. GDL has never been used in Great Britain but has been used in several other countries.

The government said in November 2024 that it was not considering GDL for Great Britain:

Whilst we are not considering Graduated Driving Licences, we absolutely recognise that young people are disproportionately victims of tragic incidents on our roads, and we are considering other measures to tackle this problem and protect young drivers.

The Department for Transport (DfT)’s 2019 Road safety statement notes that, of English-speaking countries, the following jurisdictions have GDL schemes:

• parts of the USA (New York and California)
• parts of Canada (Ontario and British Colombia)
• parts of Australia (New South Wales and Victoria)
• all of New Zealand

Among these jurisdictions, GDL rules include limits on carrying passengers, night-driving, stricter laws on the use of mobile phones and/or drink driving, and mandatory pre-test training periods. For example, in California drivers aged under 18 cannot take passengers aged under 20 unless supervised. In New Zealand, young and newly-qualified drivers go onto a restricted licence which means they cannot drive unsupervised at night.

The Road Safety statement noted that there is evidence to suggest that these GDL schemes have “proved very effective at improving the safety of young drivers” but that such schemes also “have the potential to restrict young people’s access to education and employment.”

Support for GDL

In May 2024 Kim Leadbeater MP (Labour, Batley and Spen) introduced the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (New Drivers) bill under the ten minute rule. This would have created a GDL scheme for newly qualified drivers. The bill did not progress past first reading, but the MP said it had the support of the AA and the RAC.

GDL also has the support of other organisations such as the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and the road safety charity, Brake.

GDL in Northern Ireland

Unlike in Great Britain, driving standards and licensing are devolved issues in Northern Ireland. There have been moves to introduce GDL in Northern Ireland, which the UK Government said in 2018 would serve as a pilot study into its effectiveness “to gather evidence on the potential for GDL in Great Britain”.

The Road Traffic (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 provided the statutory framework to introduce a GDL scheme. However, GDL has yet to be launched and it is unclear when it will be.