To think we urgently need graduated licences for newly qualified drivers?

[Cherryann]

Have just read of the tragic, terrible deaths of 3 beautiful teenagers, killed by their 17 year old friend’s dangerous driving, just 5 weeks after he’d passed his test - I am so horrified that our uncaring government is refusing to introduce restrictions on new teen drivers. For instance, restrictions preventing them from carrying passengers for a certain period, or driving in the dark, or carrying more than a certain number of passengers, or carrying passengers of their own age or younger.
Other countries do this, including New Zealand, Australia & Ireland! Why can’t we?
How many more teenagers will need to die such pointless awful deaths? How many bereaved parents?
Yes graduated licences will restrict teen freedoms- but so do restrictions on drug & alcohol use. There are good reasons why we have different rules for different ages & different degrees of knowledge & experience.
So, AIBU to think we urgently need graduated licences for newly qualified young drivers?

It's just awful. Young men in particular seem to think that being behind the wheel of a car is like being in a video game - that it's not real, going as fast as they can and the big adrenalin rush and my god we've all seen it.

I will never forget being in the car with my kids and a young lad with 2 other lads in the car came hurtling around a bend, totally out of control, heading straight for us on my side of the road. He actually looked scared shitless as he wrestled with his steering. Thank god I was able to divert into a farm siding before he hit us. Obviously he didn't stop and went screeching off, tyre marks on the road. I was so shaken up, didn't get a reg number, but wtf.

Doesn’t this come under parental responsibility?

Completely agree, OP. When I was a teenager in the States, laws restricting underage passengers were passed in my state. Teens were mad at the time but it reduced accidents and road deaths. I agree we should do similar in the UK — people, including young people, drive like absolute maniacs where I live.

Restricted for a year in NI.

It's fairly strict here in Canada. If you are learning, you're not even allowed to have any music playing in the car while you drive.
After you pass your test you have a 2 year period when you have a New Driver licence. You also have to have a decal on the car- you can't give multiple people lifts, you can't drive late at night, the drink drive tolerance is absolutely zero. All sensible things.
The driving here is dreadful though and crashes are very common, so make of that what you will.

What an absolutely horrific accident. He killed his 3 friends.
No passengers in the first year of driving.
These young guys (it would seem, from various cases) just show off or get carried away.

Great ideas 👍

It’s crazy we allow kids to pass their tests and go pick up four friends.

If the streets were littered with car fulls of dead young people I'd agree. But they're not.

Speed restrictions via black box insurance might already be a useful tool in the fight against this sort of driving deaths.

I completely agree OP. There have been several widely reported cases recently of a teen driver killing a carload of their friends. There was that dreadful case last year of four boys in Wales - the car overturned into a water-filled ditch after leaving the road and they all drowned. That story still haunts me

I’m a mum of a teenage boy who is learning to drive and I really wish the govt would pass legislation like they have in Canada and some US states. Too many young lives end in tragic car accidents.

Oh, let's not, the DVLA is slow as balls as it is without making it harder for them.

I agree, my daughters drive and as they shared my car I said no to any lifts for a good few months and put a black box in. Both are sensible drivers but one of their friends wasn’t and it took two accidents to slow him down.

2 accidents? Awful.

i agree with you OP but lots of parents don’t - it’s utterly insane and as a mum of boys it completely terrifies me. They can’t afford to learn to drive but their friends are all starting to pass their tests 😩

Doesn’t this come under parental responsibility?

There's a current thread by a mother who is worried about her 17yo new driver dd undertaking a very long drive with a carload of young people. Several posters have told her she's being controlling, that she can't stop her, that she's passed her test therefore she's competent to do the journey.

There have been several widely reported cases recently of a teen driver killing a carload of their friends.

It happens every summer. Every time you read about a crash involving a car with 4-5 people in, with multiple fatalities or serious injuries, you know it's going to be a group of 17-19 yos.

We wouldn't allow our son to have lessons at 17, we thought it was too young.

There has been a large reduction on road traffic deaths over the last three decades but this has now slowed.

There seems to be a lack of political will to introduce new measures that might reduce the number of casualties such as graduated licensing. Just look at the numbers of people driving round with more than 12 points on their licence and the kickback to the 20mph zones in Wales

Yes two! Luckily not serious and his parents came down hard on him from what I know.
Dd says he’s a good driver now and sticks to all speed limits and rules now! It’s a worry and there should be limitations in place for new drivers

There was a consultation under the last government, but it doesn’t seem to be a priority for the current government. Which is probably understandable given everything else. Some groups were very opposed to it too.

Given the glacial pace at which the UK moves, I expect to see automated driving before restrictions on new drivers come in.

I agree in some respects but if you live rurally like we do and as does many of dc friends then driving enables them to have jobs which are often in the hospitality industry so late nights. We also have no school transport so him driving is vital and often he comes home in winter after dark. It is not as easy as it sounds to have a blanket no after dark ban. We have zero public transport. I think no passengers would also be good.

As parents we can also set our own rules though.
We can make sure our children aren't allowed to drive at night /the day after a party /with friends in the car untill they have gained experience.

Agree they need to be introduced as a law though. I know too many young people who have died this way

Totally agree OP. My DD wasn't allowed in the car with her nearly 18 year old bf for 6 months and still not after dark.

We can't do everything but we can do something.

There are so many stupid laws and legislation and restricting newly qualified drivers isn't included. Madness.

If there's a petition, I'm willing to sign it.

Looking back I can’t believe how stupid me and my friends were as teens. I remember going “car racing” during A levels. Bloody miracle nothing awful happened. The really scary thing is that a few months later the 5 of us in our car got 17 grade As at A level between us. We were bloody clever. And really really stupid.

As someone said above there is clearly a role for parental responsibility here - just as in relation to drug use.
But also it seems to me a role for society as a whole & for the law - again just as in relation to drug use.
Any parent knows that boys in particular are risk takers, poor at recognising & assessing danger - it is surely our duty as a society to prevent them killing or horribly maiming themselves and/or others, & ruining their own lives, because of this immaturity.
I just do not understand what lies behind the UK government’s unwillingness to act. Is it just about saving money? Is it because they just can’t be bothered to legislate? Too much like hard work? (Remind me- how much do MPs get paid, to make laws?)
Do they simply not care about dead young people?
So so sad - those poor parents. It could be any of us, any of our children.

Understanding how differently a small car handles, when there are fully grown teenagers in the back seat, is usually something they learn the hard way. Add a wet road and incorrectly inflated tyres and even without showing off they’re going to be unsafe. Educating new drivers shouldn’t stop when they pass their driving test.