Curbs on young drivers considered (From Braintree and Witham Times)

Curbs on young drivers considered

4:30am Saturday 17th November 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013

A restriction on young drivers carrying passengers for six or nine months after passing their test is being considered by the Government

Young drivers may face a ban on carrying passengers who are not members of their family as the Government seeks to cut the number of deaths on the road involving teenagers, it has been reported.

Other measures which the Government could look at include banning novice drivers from carrying passengers at all, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin told the newspaper that he would consider measures put forward by the Association of British Insurers which could cut the number of accidents involving young motorists.

"I read regular reports where three or four young people have been killed in a car, and it's a new driver, and you wonder what happened," Mr McLoughlin told the newspaper. "When I talk to young people who have recently passed their test, what they say sometimes is that peer pressure is put on them to go fast, to show off.

"They are not anticipating an accident, but something goes wrong. They are not drivers with a huge amount of experience by the very fact of their being new drivers. I think we have got to look at that.

"There is a suggestion as to whether you should look at a restriction whether anyone could carry passengers for six or nine months when they have first passed their test.

"There are suggestions about them only perhaps being allowed to take a family member to drive a car when you are learning, you have to have a qualified driver in the car. So these are all sorts of areas that I think we can look at."

According to the Association of British Insurers one in eight drivers is under 25, but they account for one third of the number of people who die on the country's roads, the paper reports. It estimates that an 18-year-old driver is three times more likely to be involved in a crash than a motorist 30 years older.

In 2011, drivers between 17 and 19 were involved in 12,000 crashes, of which more than half resulted in serious or fatal injuries.

The association has also called for a curfew banning young drivers from the roads at night.