THE Lancashire Telegraph Wasted Lives campaign has been praised for putting pressure on the Government to make changes to the way people learn to drive.

A complete overhaul of the learner driver system in this country is set to take place in the next 18 months with new measures being put in place to limit the number of young people killed behind the wheel.

But Paul Butler, the director of research at the Driving Standards Agency, said that calls for a new graduated licence to be introduced will not be acted on.

He said that the current review of the way that people learn to drive will see people in the future getting behind the wheel after passing their test more prepared than ever for the challenges of the road.

Mr Butler said thousands of people across the country had taken part in the consultation since it began in the summer.

But despite calls from the Telegraph, the influential government transport select committee and road safety groups, a graduated licence system, which is commonplace in countries across the world, will not be part of new legislation.

Instead, rather than putting in place regulations that would see new drivers forced to sit a two-stage practical test and effectively raising the driving age to 18, more education and training before a test is taken looks likely to be introduced.

Mr Butler is heading the consultation process and will make recommendations to the Government in the next few months. New legislation could be in place within 18 months that will see the first major change in the way people learn to drive in decades.

He said: "The changes must address the problems that we have. Twenty per cent of newly qualified drivers have some sort of accident in their first year behind the wheel. It is that fact that has led to the root and branch review of the system.

"Most youngsters want to be safe on the road but the current system doesn't put them in the best position.

"A graduated licence system is something we have looked at but not something that will be proposed.

"We want to pitch the test at such a level that means that newly qualified drivers are as competent and safe as those in other countries who have passed the final stage of a graduated scheme."

In almost every English- speaking country in the world a graduated licence scheme sees motorists having to pass two stages of a practical test. The second part cannot be completed until experience on the road in a number of conditions, and over a period of time, is shown.

Mr Butler added: "Placing restrictions on new drivers is dealing with the symptoms rather than going to the cause and that is what we want to do."

The Wasted Lives Campaign was launched last year following a series of fatal crashes by young drivers in East Lancashire.