Learn to drive, not drive to learn

Latest research from the ABI (Association of British Insurers) highlights how vulnerable young drivers are to having a serious motor accident.

Every day four people are killed or seriously injured in accidents involving young drivers. The findings reinforce the ABI’s call for a minimum one-year learning period for all learner drivers, and restrictions on the number of teenage passengers young novice drivers can carry.

The ABI’s analysis of insurance claims involving young drivers reveals that:

Drivers aged 18 cause 50 collisions every day – nearly three times as many as drivers in their fifties.

Inexperience affects young novice drivers more than older novice drivers: an 18 year-old driver with one year’s experience is twice as likely to make a claim as a 30 year-old driver with one year’s experience.

Passenger restrictions in the first year of driving could significantly reduce the accident risk. In the USA such restrictions have reduced fatal crashes by up to 37%.

Nick Starling, the ABI’s Director of General Insurance and Health said: “Every year 50,000 17 year-olds pass their driving test with less than six months driving experience. One in three of these drivers are likely to be involved in an accident within the first two years after passing their test. Too often these accidents end in tragedy. Introducing a structured minimum one-year learning period, and passenger restrictions will help today’s young drivers become tomorrow’s safer motorists. We urge the Government to act now to protect young motorists and their families.”