Calls for graduated driver licensing (GDL) have grown louder and louder over the past decade. To help make young drivers safer on our roads, GDL places certain restrictions on what a newly qualified motorist can and can’t do when they’re out driving.

While the last government started investigating the possibility of GDL back in 2019, plans were shelved the following year due in part to concerns about how restrictions might harm the careers of young people.

New rules

Fast forward today and another call has gone out to reconsider the concept now there is a new government in place. This time the call is coming from the AA that has put forward fresh proposals for how the system could work. It recommends:

G plates

The AA wants to new drivers to display a ‘G’ plate – meaning ‘Graduate Driver’ – on their car for the first six months after passing the practical driving test.

No passengers

During this period, the driver would also not be allowed to carry peer-age passengers – however, carrying parents or carers would be acceptable.

Safety belts

The AA believes that, if a young motorist is caught driving without a safety belt, they should receive six points on their licence. This, in effect, would mean an instant driving ban.

Remember, the current law states that if you accrue six points on your licence in the first two years after passing your test, you have to re-sit your theory and practical driving tests.

Why now?

Research shows that similar schemes in countries such as Canada and Sweden reduce deaths and serious injuries in crashes involving young drivers by up to 40%.

That’s a significant reduction – and one that the AA’s Jakob Pfaudler believes we can no longer ignore. His organisation estimates GDL would save a minimum of 58 lives and stop 934 people being seriously injured in crashes each and every year.

Pfaudler told the Guardian newspaper that, “we are calling on the transport secretary to make simple, pragmatic changes to the licensing process so young people are better protected in their first few months of independent driving.”

He also believes there will be another practical benefit as well: “Not only [are such deaths] a tragic waste of life, but [they] contribute to the burden of high insurance premiums for young drivers. These premiums should fall when there is evidence of a reduction of young drivers and passengers killed and seriously injured.”

From the heart

Founder of the Forget-me-not Families Uniting group, Sharron Huddleston is equally adamant about the need for GDL. As a mother who lost loved ones in a crash, she believes the change cannot come soon enough: “How many more young people need to die before action is taken?"

“Our message is simple – listen to us, listen to the experts, listen to the AA, and learn from other countries, who have seen a huge reduction in young driver and passenger deaths after introducing graduated driving licensing for young novice drivers.

“My daughter, Caitlin, would be alive today if action had been taken when the concept of graduated licences was floated years ago.”

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