Governments should tighten rules for young drivers to cut road deaths

28/09/2006 - Young people should spend more time practising their driving skills before getting a licence and governments should introduce probationary periods and toughen drink-drive limits for novice drivers as part of a strategy to lower the numbers of people killed on roads, according to a new report.

Young Drivers: The Road to Safety, published by the OECD and the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT), identifies road crashes as the single biggest killer of 15-24 year olds in industrial countries.

People of driving age but still under 25 make up around one-tenth of the population in OECD countries but account for more than a quarter of drivers killed on roads. And studies in the US and the Netherlands show that for every 10 young drivers killed in those two countries, 13 passengers or other road users also die in the same crashes.

Young males are among the most risky drivers and are three times more likely to be killed in a car crash than young women drivers.

So what should governments do to make young drivers safer? Among the report’s recommendations are that they should:

• Oblige young drivers to spend time driving with an experienced driver in addition to taking driving lessons before a test. When Sweden lowered the minimum age for accompanied practice from 17½ to 16 in 1993, the mean number of hours of driving practice prior to licensing increased from about 45 to 120 hours, and the number of crashes involving young novice drivers fell by 40% within two years.
• Impose a maximum blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.2 g/l on novice drivers, since young drivers have been shown to be more susceptible to the effects of alcohol than older drivers. This is less than half the 0.5 g/l BAC limit recommended by the ECMT and applied across most of Europe.
• Impose probationary periods on young drivers during which they can lose their licence and/or have to undergo further training if they break the rules of the road. If drivers are penalised on a system of demerit points, the threshold for removing the licence should be set lower for novice drivers.
• Enforce the rules of the road rigorously for all drivers, with a particular focus on infractions commonly committed by young drivers, such as not wearing a seat-belt, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and breaking the speed limit.
• Focus training more on creating safe drivers, and less on helping people pass their driving test.
• Explore the potential of new technologies, including black boxes and smart keys, to reduce dangerous driving.
  

For further information and a copy of the report, journalists are invited to contact John White ( tel: 33 1 45 24 95 96) or Colin Stacey  ( tel. + 33 1 45 24 95 98) of the Joint OECD/ECMT Transport Research Centre.