Graduated driver licensing (GDL) can improve road safety whilst having minimal impact on new drivers’ access to education, employment and social activities. It imposes some restrictions on new drivers, most of whom are young, to allow them to safely gain experience a few months after they pass their test.
GDL is designed to delay full licence issue, allowing beginners to obtain their initial driving experience under lower-risk conditions.
The current UK licensing system allows a young person to drive unaccompanied with no restrictions as soon as they pass their practical driving test.
The result of this can be that young drivers can have little experience of driving in different road and traffic conditions.
Currently, young drivers are disproportionately likely to be involved in a crash, with pre-Covid data showing that almost a quarter of those killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads were in a collision involving a young driver.
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“But the evidence from overseas is that a framework of minimal restrictions and exemptions would enable these new drivers to access a world of opportunity in the safest possible way for themselves and other road users.
“The mistake critics of GDL make is to think of it as a single bundle of restrictions rather than a menu where even minimal constraints can cut death and injury whilst still being applied proportionately to accommodate the trips – such as getting to work and college – that young drivers need to make.”
Based on the research, which involved interviews with young drivers, found that all involved with the GDL were found to adapt to restrictions.
Evidence showed that exemptions and changes in travel patterns help people to maintain the most important elements of their mobility, while still benefitting from “well-evidenced improvements in safety”.
Further research shows that drivers in rural areas are “no more adversely affected than those in urban areas”.
Dr Shaun Helman, chief scientist at TRL and one of the authors of the report, said: “We often hear ministers say that Great Britain has been a leader in road safety, but this is one area in which we have lagged behind other countries over the last three decades.
“GDL is a simple, evidence-based approach to licensing that we know reduces risk, and that this work confirms does not lead to serious reductions in mobility for young people, or problems with enforcement.
“It is the only tried and tested option for young and novice drivers that we could implement easily, right now, if we chose to.
“It would spare thousands of people every year from preventable death and life-changing injury, and thousands more from the grief of losing loved ones to road trauma.
“That we are still having this debate after a decade of research showing specifically how GDL could work in our country, is terribly sad. If we are leaders in road safety, we can do better.”
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