Source · Select Committees · Transport Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Paragraph: 79
There have been welcome reductions in the overall numbers of young and novice drivers killed...
Conclusion
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.
Paragraph Reference:
79
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
As mentioned in our answer to Recommendation 3, we can update the Committee on progress with the Driver 2020 project in July 2021, however we won’t have findings by this date. Initial findings on the impacts of the novice driver interventions (telematics and the mentor agreement) will be available in Spring 2022 and we have already stated that we can share those with the Committee at that time. In the 2019 Road Safety Statement the Department committed to conducting a feasibility study on combining telematics data for young drivers to understand if safe driving could improve efficient driving. Unfortunately, due to challenges with procurement this project has not progressed. At the Department, we believe that telematics technology has great potential to improve road safety understanding and this approach is preferable to a form of Graduated Driver Licensing. Driver 2020 will provide unique evidence to understand the relationship between use of telematics and post-test collision risk and we look forward to the final report and findings in early 2023.