Select committee: Transport Committee
Conclusion 4
Fourth report: Road safety: young and novice drivers
Published 2 Mar 2021
Paragraph 79
Addressed to Department for Transport
Transport Committee Young and novice drivers All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
There have been welcome reductions in the overall numbers of young and novice drivers killed and seriously injured in road traffic crashes over the past 15 years. However, this progress has now stalled. We believe that improvements to the safety of vehicles and the learning and testing process, as well as the increasing use of telematic technology by young drivers, have helped improve safety rates. However, young drivers are still sadly over-represented in the statistics. It is a tragic fact that in 2019 88 young drivers lost their lives on the roads of Great Britain.
From: Transport Committee, Fourth report: Road safety: young and novice drivers (HC 169), paragraph 79, 2 March 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 13 May 2021 (deadline 2 May 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government answers the Committee's nine recommendations "in as much detail as we can provide", agreeing with some, declining others, and giving later dates for several updates.
- On Graduated Driver Licensing, the Department "will not be commissioning any research into the social and economic consequences of GDL" and has "no plans to conduct research on or implement any form of a Graduated Driving License at this time".
- On intensive driving lessons, it agrees further study "may be useful" and will consider whether research should be part of the 2022/23 research programme, as this year's projects have already been agreed by Ministers.
- It can update the Committee on Driver 2020 in July 2021 but will have no findings by then; initial findings on telematics and the mentor agreement are expected in Spring 2022, with final findings in Spring 2023.
- On the modular learning pilot, it states it will not have an assessment against the criteria by October 2021, and expects to provide information on effectiveness by Spring 2023.