There is a need for Britain’s young drivers to be educated as road deaths are on the rise according to the statistics from the DfT.
August is National Road Victim Month and with statistics (Department for Transport - Road Casualties Great Britain 2006 (published 2007) revealing that road deaths are rising by as much as 60% in some parts of the UK2 (Analysis of figures by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, based on statistics from 2003-2007).
To counter this BSM is undertaking a series of grass-roots education initiatives to work with youngsters across the UK to highlight the need for safe, responsible driving.
Statistics from the DfT show that one in five people have an accident within six months of passing their test and a further 70 per cent report near misses in the same period. Newly qualified drivers and their passengers account for 20 per cent of all car deaths in Britain, and whilst just one in eight licence holders is under the age of 25, they account for a third of all drivers killed in road collisions1.
To raise awareness of this and to support National Road Victim Month, BSM is undertaking an education drive to encourage young drivers to seize opportunities to learn responsibly before they get on the road.
BSM, the UK’s largest driving school, is offering a number of initiatives aimed at pre-drivers and newly qualified drivers, educating them about the real-life consequences of irresponsible driving and instilling a sense of responsible learning. It offers two free education programmes which can be used as part of the school curriculum targeting school children aged 14-19, and will proactively link with local schools across the UK to host road safety education sessions; something it has done for many years and will continue to do so for years to come.
Robin Cummins OBE, road safety consultant for BSM, said: “Road safety is a life skill. These statistics show that there is a vast divide between age groups and even regions across the UK. By working with those who are yet to learn to drive at a grass-roots level, we can begin to develop the skills necessary for a lifetime of enjoyable and accident free motoring.”
Every year more than 750,000 people pass their driving test and new, young drivers make a disproportionate contribution towards the number of accidents on Britain’s roads. While overall deaths on the UK’s roads have decreased, recent analysis of figures by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety have shown a startling disparity nationwide, with several counties in southern England experiencing an increase in the number of fatalities by a fifth over five years.
The regional difference is particularly evident between the North and the South: in Gwent, South Wales, road deaths have increased by 60 per cent, and by 26 per cent in both Wiltshire and Cambridgeshire. However in the north, Merseyside road deaths are significantly lower than the national average and have dropped by 55 per cent from this time last year. In Lancashire the drop has been 36 per cent and 22 per cent in Humberside.
Simon McBride