New drivers under 25 could be banned from carrying young passengers
The proposed ‘graduated driving licence’ scheme would see drivers under 25 banned from carrying other young passengers in the first six to 12 months after passing their test.
The government will review proposals to ban new drivers from carrying young passengers after first passing their test.
Under the so-called ‘graduated driving licence’ scheme, those under 25 years old would not be allowed to carry passengers under that age for six to 12 months after passing their test.
It is understood that transport secretary Richard Holden will discuss the plan with a group of campaigners for road safety later in May.
Support for Victims of Road Crashes, an advisory committee to Mr Holden’s department, has already given approval to the scheme.
One of the strongest voices behind the new proposal is Sharron Huddleston, whose daughter Caitlin was killed in a 2017 crash.
Caitlin was in the front passenger seat of a car driven by a friend who’d passed their test four months prior, and who also died in the accident. A third teenager sat in the back of the vehicle also suffered serious injuries.
In written evidence submitted to parliament in favour of the new scheme, Mrs Huddleston previously said: ‘Road deaths are the forgotten epidemic. They kill more young people in the UK than anything else.
‘Caitlin had been in the car for approximately 15 minutes from being picked up from our family home before being horrifically killed.’
She added: ‘Novice drivers are clearly very vulnerable on the road. They also pose great [and] considerable danger to their passengers and other road users.
‘The Department for Transport must ensure that tackling this group of casualties is given a high priority across government.
‘Change has to happen urgently and the government needs to take action.’
According to road safety charity Brake, roughly one in five new drivers will be involved in a road incident within a year of obtaining their licence, with more than 1,500 young drivers killed or seriously injured in the UK each year.
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