Young driver report from IAM

martine · Joined: 17 Oct 2005 Posts: 1406 Location: Bristol, UK

Peeps might be interested in the following from the IAM trust...

www.iam.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/8CA48B02-80FC-4CD3-B7F0-9F53F1021679/0/completeyoungdriverbrochure.pdf
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Martin - Bristol IAM Group Senior Observer and Secretary.

Gareth · Joined: 15 Apr 2006 Posts: 1214 Location: Berkshire

Can you provide a summary for those who are not IAM members, or those who are but do not know how to login?
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there is only the road, nothing but the road ...

martine · Joined: 17 Oct 2005 Posts: 1406 Location: Bristol, UK

OK - sorry I didn't realise it was members only...I've cut/paste the summary below. When I get round to it, I'll whack the full report on my website for non-members to read.

Executive Summary
This report has been commissioned by the IAM Motoring Trust to investigate road accidents involving young drivers in Great Britain. The analysis compares drivers aged 17-19 and 20 24 with those aged 25-59 and 60-79, using the Department of Transport’s accident data for the seven years from 2000 to 2006. The report also draws on key research studies on young drivers, mostly in the UK, and published before February 2008. A summary of the report ‘Young drivers – where and when they are unsafe’ is available from the IAM Motoring Trust: www.iamtrust.org.uk

Age, experience and gender are important factors affecting how people drive and their involvement in road accidents.

Drivers under 25 are involved in a disproportionately large number of road accidents when compared with the proportion of drivers who are over 25. The youngest drivers are even more at risk. The riskiest time for all new drivers is the first year after passing the driving test. The number of young drivers involved in accidents falls with each year of age as they gain in both maturity and experience.

The number of car drivers involved in accidents per licence holder is twice as high for young men as for young women. This difference is only partly accounted for by the higher mileage driven by young men.

When young car drivers are involved in accidents, there are a number of ways in which the accident circumstances tend to differ from those where older drivers are involved. These include:
• Older cars with less Euro NCAP-rated crash protection
• Three or more casualties in the car
• Accidents at night and at weekends
• Driving on wet roads in fine weather, or in rain, fog or mist
• Minor roads in rural areas with a 60 mph speed limit
• Single vehicle accidents with no other road users involved
• On bends, particularly on rural roads
• Skidding, and in some cases then overturning
• Leaving the road, and in many cases hitting a roadside object or entering a ditch

These circumstances indicate, as other research summarised in this report shows, that accident involvement of young drivers is associated with a combination of different types of factor which all play a part:
• Inexperience and poor judgement in more difficult driving conditions (poor weather, poor visibility, minor rural roads)
• Inadequate control of the car (single vehicle accidents, skidding, overturning, leaving the road)
• Lifestyle factors (social driving particularly at night and at weekends, when factors such as alcohol and peer pressure affect where and how young people drive)
• Economic factors which result in young drivers being more likely to have cheaper older cars which offer them less protection from injury than newer cars would do.

This combination of factors suggests that a range of countermeasures are needed to address the issue and to improve the safety record of young drivers on Britain’s roads, and suggests that a targeted approach is more appropriate than restrictions on all young drivers. The results of this study indicate that improvements in the safety record can be brought about through measures aimed at young drivers themselves, by improving the road environment and through improvements in vehicle safety.

Measures aimed at young drivers could include:
• Including road safety education at the core of the school curriculum so that young people develop an awareness of the risks and responsibilities of using the roads as drivers, riders and as passengers
• More training and accompanied practice in using rural roads and driving in a wider range of conditions, including at night, in poor visibility and poor weather, helping learners to better adapt their driving behaviour to suit the conditions before taking the driving test
• More training in factors leading to loss of control of the vehicle, how to anticipate these situations and how to avoid them
• Insurance companies recognising that accompanied driving practice before taking the test does not pose undue risk, and reducing premiums for young learner drivers using the family car accordingly
• Guiding parents on helping their children to become safer drivers through supervising additional driving practice, and providing information to parents on how to do this most effectively
• Targeting the minority of young and inexperienced (mostly) male drivers exhibiting more dangerous driving behaviour through education, training and enforcement
• Greater emphasis on training and improvement after passing the formal driving test

Improvements in the road environment which would have particular benefits for young drivers include features such as skid resistant surfaces, providing wider safety margins at the roadside by removing roadside objects, and other measures to provide greater protection so that roads are more forgiving when an accident happens.
Improvements in vehicle safety with the introduction of modern safety features in new vehicles such as Electronic Stability Control, and the gradual improvement over time in the crashworthiness of older vehicles as the safer designs percolate down to young drivers, will also bring about improvements for young drivers.

Young drivers do become safer drivers as they gain in maturity and experience. The challenge is to find ways of ensuring that they are safer as they start their driving careers, at the time when they pass their driving test.

It is hoped that the analysis presented in this report, and the summary of other research which puts the results in context, will provide the basis for developing recommendations for improving the safety record of young drivers on Britain’s roads.
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Martin - Bristol IAM Group Senior Observer and Secretary.

jbsportstech · Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 285 Location: Somerset

Thats very interesting and makes a great deal of sense. You can tell its not a goverment report as it doesn't say 'speed is the only factor causing accidents and we need more speed cameras and higher fines'.

There needs to be a way of druming into under 25 yr old that they dont know it all because they have passed a dsa test and further training such as IAM and RoSPA is the way forward. If there was decent insurance discounts for these drivers then there would be a much better take up. Also stopping 17-21 driving at night with passengers would help i feel.

Just my two pence worth Rolling Eyes

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Regards James

Member of Southwest RoADAR

www.fordstownersclub.co.uk

To the average driver 'safe' is not having accidents. To an advanced driver 'safe' is not being vunerable to an accident.

ROG · Joined: 08 Oct 2006 Posts: 1119 Location: LEICESTER

Just noticed that the report uses the word 'accident' instead of incident or crash - thought the IAM would know better Exclamation

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ROG
Civilian Advanced Driver
Senior Observer
Leicester Group of Advanced Motorists
UNEMPLOYED LGV instructor

michael769 · Joined: 17 Sep 2007 Posts: 213 Location: Livingston

Pedantry I know but as we are criticising the IAM's use of English..

ROG · Joined: 08 Oct 2006 Posts: 1119 Location: LEICESTER