Public and Commercial Services Union

PCS considers it unacceptable that 3200 drivers die and another 30,000 are injured in crashes on our roads each year. A disproportionate number of those deaths and serious injuries are in the 17-25 year old group. Male drivers are over-represented within these crash statistics. We quite deliberately do not refer to "accidents" in this article. The term implies that there is something inevitable about these collisions. We believe they are almost entirely avoidable given appropriate training and testing, correct attitude, a licensing regime that supports an extended learning period for new drivers and that applies appropriate sanctions to those who transgress.

Single vehicle crashes involving novice drivers more often occurred at night (between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.) and mainly involved speeding with other teenagers present in the vehicle. There is substantial evidence that in the case of young drivers, when teenage passengers are present, the risk of crash involvement increases.

A solution
 

PCS is proposing the introduction of graduated licensing whereby young and new drivers have to show that they have acquired the necessary skills before they can have full use of the road at all times of the night and the day. It is a system for phasing in on-road driving, allowing beginners to get their initial experience under conditions that involve lower risk and introducing them in stages to more complex driving situations.

Essentially an apprentice system, graduated licensing involves three stages. The first is a supervised learner's period, then an intermediate licensing phase that permits unsupervised driving only in certain situations, and finally a full-privilege license when the conditions of the first two stages have been met. A graduated system is designed to address driving inexperience, so there is some justification for applying it to beginners of all ages. This is the approach taken in Canada, where many new drivers are older than in the UK.

Graduated licensing tackles the problem that novice drivers are less able to multi-task i.e. to drive and at the same time properly observe traffic and other hazards. In contrast, experienced drivers tend not to devote the same level of conscious resources to the control of their vehicles as, with time, that aspect becomes largely automatic. Thus experienced drivers are able to devote more attention to traffic and hazard avoidance.

The fact that novice drivers are less able to multi-task leads to increased risk of collision under certain conditions. Their collision risk increases significantly at night time and when carrying passengers of similar age. Graduated licensing would be effective in mitigating the hazards above by limiting exposure to risk situations as the novice driver gains experience and develops vehicle control proficiency.

A little history
 

Graduated licensing was conceived in the United States in the early 1970s. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration developed a model graduated licensing law in the mid-1970s and offered states financial incentives to adopt it.

Not as radical as first appears
 

The principle of graduated licensing is reflected in other aspects of life, for example in the workplace, where it is recognised that once training has been delivered, there is a further period when full competence on the job is gained. We see no reason to expect anything different from new drivers. We think it right that the accepted high-risk period for young drivers following licence acquisition should be addressed by placing restrictions on certain activities on the public highway. This would be for the protection of young drivers, their passengers and other road users.

Incentives

We believe that requiring new drivers to pass a further on-road test that is more difficult than the initial on-road licensing test in order to graduate to full-privilege driving could motivate beginners to develop their skills and weed out drivers who have not practised enough to become proficient. Such tests have been introduced in Ontario and British Columbia.

UK ministers have questioned the ability to enforce graduated licensing provisions, however the American experience shows that in practice, they are largely self-enforcing, with parents playing a major role. In addition, drivers are penalised if they do not comply with driving restrictions or who are involved in traffic violations or at-fault crashes.

Almost all jurisdictions delay or prohibit graduation from the system if there is evidence of a poor driving record. In Nova Scotia, for example, sufficient violations incurred during the two-year intermediate stage start the clock over so that drivers with such records who entered the system at age 16 could remain under a night driving restriction until well beyond age 18. The threat of such a penalty can provide strong motivation for safe driving.

Driver ASBO
 

Whilst we wish to see graduated licensing for young and new drivers it can also be used as an alternative to banning and other orders. In certain circumstances we believe magistrates and other legal officials may welcome putting a driver on graduated licensing rather than banning them e.g. in the case where a driving ban would lead to loss of livelihood. In that way graducated licensing could become a form of driver ASBO.

We are not alone
 

We are not alone in calling for graduated licensing. For example the road safety charity 'BRAKE' also calls for a form of graduated licensing to be introduced.

According to a recent report in the Times " Insurers plan to lobby the government for changes to the rights of young drivers, such as restrictions on the number of passengers they can carry and the hours they drive" - in other words they want a form of graduated licensing.