MWR back introduction of laws for young drivers
28 September 2006
A PRESTON personal injury lawyer has thrown her weight behind proposals to introduce new legislation for young drivers aimed at reducing fatalities and serious injuries on UK roads.
Annette Thompson, a partner at MWR Solicitors of Cannon Street, is supporting the proposals which have been put forward by the RAC Foundation, Association of British Insurers, Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, Brake, RoadSafe and the Make Roads Safe campaigners.
The main points of the proposals call for a new structured learning programme with a minimum probationary period as a learner driver before being permitted to take a driving test with a logbook measuring hours spent at the wheel and driving experience.
The proposals also call for measures to reduce the number of passengers carried by young drivers - as already in force in various parts of the USA - and lessen driving at night.
Annette, who is a member of the Solicitors Regulation Authority's Personal Injury Panel, said: “There has been a series of fatalities on Lancashire’s roads this summer, with a number of young drivers and their passengers being killed. We deal with an increasing number of road accidents involving young people each month and I think the time has come for the Government to take action.
“The new proposals are a positive step and I think that there should definitely be a set quota of time that young drivers should spend behind the wheel before they are permitted to take their test.
“I understand that there would be some resistance from the public because of the high costs involved in learning to drive but I do not think that you can put a price on a life.”
In the UK, young males are ten times more likely to be killed on the roads than more experienced drivers. Last year alone, 1,200 young drivers were killed or seriously injured in road accidents and recent statistics have shown that road accidents are the main cause of death for teenagers and people in their early 20s in the UK.
