When every silver lining had a cloud

Call me a cynic, but I never take a story at face value. Invariably the real story is behind the headlines. Every silver lining has a cloud you could say.

Take the recently published Government figures on road accident casualties. The headline statistics are good news: the falling trend in the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads. The 250,000 people injured or killed on our roads in 2007 was a 4% fall on 2006, with the number of road deaths, at 3,000, representing a 7% reduction.

This is of course welcome news. So why my concern? Look beyond these headlines, and you will find that while the overall casualty rate is falling, the share of accidents among under-21 year olds, especially men, is growing. Accidents involving under 25 year-olds made up nearly a third of the total casualties, compared to 25% back in 2000.

The Government reports that “younger drivers, particularly males, are more likely to have factors relating to speed and behaviour as a contributory factor”. Yes, we know. The ABI reported this two years ago, when we highlighted the need for tougher controls to ensure that our young newly qualified drivers did not add to the tragedy of early death or crippling injury. The statistics are shocking: 17 to 20 year old male drivers are almost ten times more likely to be killed or seriously injured than middle-aged ones; drivers aged 18 cause 50 collisions a day, and one in three young drivers are likely to be involved in an accident in the two years after passing their test.

“The Government’s proposals for improved testing and training of young drivers published earlier this year are a first step. But we need to go further.

Nick Starling

The Government’s proposals for improved testing and training of young drivers published earlier this year are a first step. But we need to go further. Tough measures are the only way that we can ensure that young novice drivers become mature older motorists. We need a minimum one-year pre test learning period, to better equip young drivers to handle safely the potentially lethal weapon that is a motor car. And passenger restrictions for young newly qualified drivers would reduce the all too familiar tragic accidents involving cars crammed with youngsters.

As a father of two daughters of car driving age, I want to see some ‘tough love’ action to ensure that today’s young novice drivers become tomorrow’s mature motorists. I am sure that every parent would agree.