19 April 2007
A driving safety survey carried out by Cooperative Insurance (CIS) has revealed that 65% of 15-24-year-olds have been a passenger of a speeding car and less than half felt confident enough to tell the driver to slow down.
Since speed is a crucial factor in car accidents, the consequences of young motorists driving over the speed limit are higher car insurance premiums.
David Neave, the Director of General Insurance at CIS, said that if this trend continued, young drivers would soon be priced off the road. According to CIS figures, insurance premiums have already increased by 22% for young drivers in the past three years, compared to just a 2% rise for older drivers.
Responding to the news that the government wants to see more education schemes set up for young drivers, Mr Neave said: "More needs to be done to educate young drivers on the horrific consequences speeding can have on people's lives.
"Whether that be the introduction of road safety education in to the national curriculum or the introduction of Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL), both would play an important role."
The call for better driver training for young motorists has also be heralded by national motoring charity Brake, with Head of Education at the group, Jools Townsend, adding: "Now is the time for the government to take action and tackle the problem of risk-taking young drivers.
"More will die if positive steps are not taken immediately to educate young people and reform the learning to drive process."
The Association of British Insurers' Director General, Stephen Haddrill, recently suggested that the government should enforce new drivers to take a year's worth of lessons before being allowed to take their test.
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