Green paper delays putting young drivers at risk

Published: 18 June 2013
By Chris Haycock

Hundreds of lives are at risk by delaying a Green Paper proposing new measures, including night-time curfews on young motorists, a one-year learning period and zero tolerance on drink driving. Propsals for the white paper were meant to have been published by the end of the spring, ministers promised. The Associatino of Police Chiefs, Brake (road safety charity), the ABI (Association of British Insurers) and the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs have come together to call for urgent action to live up to the promise of launching the white paper. Commenting on the delay, Louise Hanson, assistant director for strategy at the ABI said, "If this government doesn't act we will continue to see young lives being wasted." Studies conducted by Michelin have shown that young drivers aged between 17-25 were twice as likely to crash on rural roads, and that although young drivers make up just 12 per cent of licence holders, a quarter of all deaths and serious accidents involved young drivers. Deputy chief executive at Brake said, "The longer the Government leaves this the more people will lose their lives, the more people will suffer injuries. We have been campaigning for years but in the past all we have seen is people talking about tinkering with driving tests. That's not enough, we need to see bold action and as quickly as possible."