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Driving age 'rising to 18' with tough new test designed to slash road carnage
Last updated at 13:07pm on 28.12.07The driving age will effectively rise to 18 in a major overhaul of how young people are prepared for the road.
Learners will still be granted their provisional licence from 17, but will need a year to pass a beefed-up test.
It means the minimum age at which a new driver could realistically go out on his or her own will be 18.
The move follows a Daily Mail campaign, backed by the insurance industry, road safety campaigners and motoring groups, to raise the formal driving age to 18 to help cut accidents caused by young drivers.
Road safety figures show that one in five new drivers aged between 17 to 19 crash within a year of passing their test. But for 17-year-olds the risk reduces by 43 per cent after the first year of driving.
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Tough test: Young drivers will be expected to gain 500 hours of road experience before being given a driving licence in a bid to cut the number of accidents caused by young drivers
The new structure, to be unveiled by ministers in a consultation document published in the New Year, will put more emphasis on issues such as avoiding reckless behaviour, hazard perception, "over-confidence and other failings".
Candidates will have to master key skills of the current driving test - including parallel parking, reversing around a corner and the three-point turn - before they are allowed to take a new practical L-test, which they must pass to secure their full licence. Each mastered key skill will be signed off by a qualified instructor in a log book.
This will leave the examiner in the driving test to concentrate on more 'safety-critical' issues, such as dealing with junctions, roundabouts and moving traffic.
The test, which will be harder than the current one, will include elements such as driving on a dual carriageway and turning right at a busy junction.
The learning process will also aim to give candidates experience of 'real world' driving on high-speed roads and at night.
Learner drivers will spend up to 500 hours mastering the key skills.
Experts say candidates currently spend 100 hours behind the wheel before taking their tests.
"This way the Government can effectively raise the driving age to 18 without having to specifically legislate,' Whitehall sources said.
"It will take most people at least a year to be signed off by a qualified instructor on all the skills they need to master before taking the tougher L-test."
A few drivers "with the skills of a Lewis Hamilton" may qualify to take the practical test, and secure a full licence, in less than a year, say Whitehall insiders. But they will be the exception rather than the rule.
Victim: Margaret Davidson was killed by a novice driver in 2006
Margaret Davidson's car was hit by 19-year-old Nolan Haworth at 70mph in a 50mph zone as he raced to court, while banned, to answer a charge of affray.
In September last year he was jailed for just four years after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.
During the trial, Mrs Davidson moved the judge to tears by describing the devastation to her life caused by the death of her daughter, a doctor.
The restructuring of the driving test system will apply to all two million candidates a year of all ages.
The consultation will look at whether to insist on a given number of compulsory lessons with a qualified instructor.
Affordability will be a key issue, with those from poorer backgrounds currently often relying on free tuition from family and friends.
MPs have called for a 'zero' drink-drive limit of 20g per 100ml of blood for novice drivers - similar to that for air crews - compared to the current standard drink-drive limit of 80mg/100ml.
The Government says it will look at this under a separate review of the drink-drive limit.
But ministers see difficulties enforcing it as police would not be sure which limit applied to drivers they stopped.
MPs have also called on the Government to prohibit new drivers from carrying passengers aged ten to 20 between 11pm and 5pm.
The Government rejected this in 2002. But it will consider again the 'practicality and likely effectiveness' of the measures.
Recent research has shown that young drivers' brains are 'too immature' to drive safely.
The frontal lobe - which controls emotion, risk-taking and decision making - is not fully developed until the age of 25.
And studies of driver attitudes show young motorists are more likely to drive for the pleasure of thrill-seeking, and feelings of pride, power and confidence.
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The road safety charity Brake said that raising from 17 to 18 the age at which young people can take their driving test would significantly reduce the 'disproportionate' number of young driver deaths and injuries on UK roads.
It said road crashes are the biggest killer of those aged 15 to 24, with 23 young drivers and passengers killed or seriously injured every day.
Nick Starling of the Association of British Insurers said: "We must get away from the pass now, learn later culture too many youngsters have.
"Every day 140 drivers pass their driving test with less than six months' driving experience. It is this lack of experience that makes young drivers so vulnerable.
"Helping them gain experience of driving in different road conditions, such as at night and on wet roads, as part of the learning process will make them safer drivers, and reduce the tragic waste of young lives on our roads."
According to the ABI, male drivers aged 17-20 are 10 times as likely to be killed or seriously injured as more experienced motorists.
Half of serious accidents involving young drivers occur at night.
Reader views (12)
im am turning 17 in a few weeks and will be learning to drive... how the hell am i supposed to be able to pay 10K. especially since many people still do not have a job... if the government wants to make this a law then they should pay most of the 10k needed to sit the test. and in my opinion they cannot aford to pay that for every person learning to drive. as many people have said above the government will have to come down hard on people who drive without a licence etc... also this new law has had almost no publicity, the government should come out and describe every aspect of this on prime time TV.
- Connor, Livingston, West Lothian
500 hours? A joke maybe?
That's around 500, 1 hour lessons and if that's just 1 every week, which is what a student can probably afford, it would take 500 weeks, almost 10 years! And around £10 000! Is this actually a joke?
- Ryan, London
I don't think I know of anyone who has had anywhere near 100 hours behind the wheel before passing their test. I was told I would only need around 15-20 hours at the most before I would be allowed to take my test.
500 hours is a joke, thats around £10K of lessons!
- Matt Gardiner, Glasgow
Welcome changes by all means, but to say you need 500 hours. This is a joke. Who will afford this? Another tax on the working class. Your tutor should have the final say. After all they are out in all conditions with you. As it stands in my town, no Country driving at night. This needs to be looked at. Bad drivers of all ages are ever present..
- John, Dundee
I went through the test last year, it's got almost nothing to do with driving. It's just a politically motivated elfnsafety test.
The best thing they could do? Take the L plates off the pupils car when they're ready and let them find out under instruction exactly what it is like to drive around obeying the highway code while everyone else is ignoring it.
- Tony, Hull
These (excellent) measures need to be put in place in parallel with tougher sentences for driving offences. If you kill someone because you were driving stupidly, you need to go to prison for several years.
- Rd, Glamorgan, UK
Sharon, being able to drive is not a god given right. Have you thought of telling your son he either can't have driving lessons or make him pay for them himself or ask his father for a contribution. Would you be happier for the state to pay.
- Dardellion Montblanc, London, UK
It would be interesting to know whether a survey has been carried linking the incease of poor driving skills with the reduction of traffic control policing.
- Bj, London, England
As we currently have 1 million + illegal drivers on our roads this will have very little impact. It may infact cause more illegal drivers to take a chance and ignore the Driving Test process.
The Courts need to toughen up the sentencing for illegal driving.
- Mike, Bedford England
I can see nothing wrong with making the driving test tougher if it will result in fewer accidents. What I do object to is providing driving schools with a license to print money. My youngest son (17 in February) will be starting to learn to drive soon, taught by his father (33 years without accidents) and his brother (7years without accidents) I would be more than happy to have his key skills tested at a Government Approved Centre in the same way that my car is safety checked at an MOT centre. But, as a single parent, there is no way on earth that I can afford to pay for 500 hours of driving tuition at around £25 per hour.
Does this mean that driving is yet another thing to be reserved for the privileged few?
- Sharon Rogers, Erith, Kent
For this to have any meaning or effect the Government will have to come down hard on people who drive without licences, while banned, with no insurance, or in untaxed cars.
- Duncan, East Anglia
The more the nanny state tries to "protect" the more the state destroys.
- Trunk, US
