University backs Lancashire Telegraph driving campaign (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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University backs Lancashire Telegraph driving campaign
3:52pm Tuesday 21st September 2010 in News
PRESSURE: Minister Philip Hammond
UNIVERSITY experts have backed calls for an overhaul on the laws surrounding young drivers.
The findings of a major study by Cardiff University academics has boosted the campaign to cut the number of young people killed on the roads.
They said 17 to 24-year-olds should be banned from driving at night or carrying other young people as passengers - the key aim of the Lancashire Telegraph’s Wasted Lives campaign, which has already been supported by MPs, charities and the influential transport select committee.
The previous Labour government turned its back on a graduated licence scheme, which would allow drivers to build up their skills and experience gradually.
But now the Cardiff study has given fresh impetus to the campaign.
With one in five new drivers crashing within the first six months, the team said many accidents could be avoided by targeting them with graduated licensing.
The researchers said the policy worked well in other countries.
And campaigners are now hoping to put pressure on new Transport Secretary Philip Hammond to change the law.
Ellen Booth, of road safety charity Brake, said the new government had shown signs of being willing to talk about the issue. She welcomed the team’s findings, adding: “So much evidence shows that graduated licences are an effective way of reducing road deaths among young people.”
Terry Hannon spearheaded the Wasted Lives campaign after his 22-year-old son Matthew was killed in a smash in Livesey Branch Road in 2006.
He said: “I agree with this to a certain degree, because something definitely should be done.”
Mr Hannon said the move could be tough to enforce, and insisted more stringent penalties on young speeding drivers were needed in the meantime.
Comments(6)
Parly
says...
5:09pm Tue 21 Sep 10
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I am strongly in favour of making our roads safer and increasing awareness amongst younger drivers but with respect, this must be one of the most ridiculous suggestions I’ve heard!
burner
says...
7:27pm Tue 21 Sep 10
BuckoTheMoose
says...
7:32pm Tue 21 Sep 10
"The last figures I can find for total driving licence holders by age are from 2007, where DVLA state that there are just over 2 million held by those 20 and under. This includes provisional licences so let's halve that to a million, and let's be conservative and say that these drivers only venture out one evening a week. It still adds up to over 50 million car journeys per year, or 100 million if you count outward and return trips.
So the study referenced is talking about cutting out every single one of these successful journeys because 0.0004% of them go horribly wrong - about the same chance as being struck by lightning.
On the pretext that "just one life lost is too many", these joyless researchers would collectively punish every young driver in the country, by depriving them of the overwhelming sense of freedom all of us felt when we first held that full licence in our hands. Not only that, but all the youthful romantic evenings facilitated by a car, all the friendships fostered, all the networking which doesn't involve slumping in front of Facebook, even the joy of just driving to McDonalds with a friend for a milk shake and a chat.
No other solution will do, it has to be a comprehensive ban on night driving and transporting friends. All teens to be legally grounded on the orders of the risk-averse.
One has to wonder if the grey-souled, hand-wringing nannies who dreamed up such a recommendation can remember being young themselves ... or if, indeed, they ever were. "
Asian Lad
says...
12:09am Wed 22 Sep 10
your granny
says...
9:01am Wed 22 Sep 10
BuckoTheMoose says...
4:57pm Tue 21 Sep 10
If you ban new drivers from driving at night, how are they supposed to gain experience driving at night??
And more "evidence" that isn't backed up by any refereces.
As for Terry Hannon, I am sorry for what he has gone through but greiving relatives are the last people who should be given a voice on policy making.
This whole "Wasted Lives" idea is knee jerk, righteous rubbush with no basis in science or fact. It hasn't been thought through, it won't work and it will simply make the lives of responsible people a lot more difficult.