RoSPA to tackle young driver accidents with new assessment

Some of the most vulnerable users of the road - young people - are being offered the chance to improve their driving skills and safety with a new RoSPA evaluation course.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has developed the Young Drivers Assessment for people aged between 17 and 24-years-old.

The appraisal marks a development of RoSPA’s extensive road safety services, which already include a popular assessment for more experienced drivers.

But with traffic accidents remaining the largest single cause of death and injury to young adults, and with one in five young drivers crashing within a year of passing their learner test, RoSPA has developed an assessment for younger road users.

More than 300 newly-qualified drivers and their passengers are killed in car crashes each year.

The Young Drivers Assessment, which is available throughout the UK, aims to provide objective appraisals of young motorists’ driving skills, enabling them to take action to improve areas of concern.

The evaluation involves an hour-long drive with one of RoSPA’s trainers, who will assess the candidate’s skills and highlight issues in their technique, attitude or ability.

The trainers, all of whom hold the Police Advanced Drivers’ Qualification, will provide candidates with both a written and verbal report on their performance.

Rick Wood, head of training at RoSPA’s driver and fleet solutions team, said: “Our assessment is a great start in improving the current state of affairs for young drivers – the blunt fact is that many of them crash soon after passing their test.

“I’m confident that the assessment will help young motorists to identify weak areas in their driving.

“We will continue to develop services for this important and vulnerable group of road users.”

The best time to take the evaluation is between six and nine months after passing the learner driver test, when complacency can creep in and bad driving habits begin to be formed.

See roadar.org/drivers/YDA.htm for more information about the Young Drivers Assessment. Alternatively, call the RoADAR team on 0121 248 2127.