Drivers younger than 18 face total ban on alcohol

Ministers are understood to be considering introducing a year-long training period to raise the minimum legal driving age to 18.

Teenagers driving during this probationary period would have to obey a zero-alcohol limit.

If they were found to have drunk any alcohol before getting behind the wheel they would be forced to take their test again.

They could also be banned from driving on motorways until they had gained more experience. Ministers are due to publish a consultation paper in the autumn on the proposals outlined in The Times.

Transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick said: "We want to send a message to our young people that passing your test and driving is not just a bit of fun. It carries responsibilities."

However, young people are not expected to be outlawed from driving their friends around as such a ban is thought to have been considered difficult-to enforce. The Government is also believed to have rejected an upper age limit on driving.

The all-party Commons transport select committee has called for the driving age to be raised to 18 and for the zero-alcohol limit for inexperienced motorists. Up to 1,000 lives could be saved a year by a 12-month training period, and as many as 7,000 serious injuries avoided, according to Department for Transport research.

The biggest cause of death of young women in Britain is road crashes when young men are driving, with nearly half of motorists killed at night being under 25. The death rate among young drivers is also rising, from 13.8 fatalities per 100,000 drivers aged 17 to 20 in 1997, to 19.2 in 2005.

More than a quarter of teenage male drivers are involved in a road crash during their first 12 months of driving and accidents involving motorists under 25 led to more than 1,000 deaths last year.

Five years ago the Government examined whether to raise the age for a full licence to 18, as is the case in many other EU countries, but rejected the move amid warnings that it could stop young people, particularly in rural areas, from getting to work.

Nearly seven out of 10 17-year-olds drive to work.

However, ministers are likely to argue that raising the school-leaving age to 18 will reduce the number of teenagers who will be stopped from using a car to get to work.

The Government has sought to tackle the high death rate among young drivers with a series of publicity campaigns.

However, a Department for Transport source said: "The shocking adverts worked up to a point but the effects are beginning to trail off.

"We need to make it very clear to young people that driving carries huge responsibilities."

The 12-month training period is also likely to apply to motorcyclists to stop teenagers from turning to this mode of transport before they get a full licence to drive a car.