Leading the drive for greater safety

It's a scene many can relate to: sitting in the back seat of a car with a white-knuckle grip on the door handle wishing the driver would slow down, stop fiddling with the car stereo and keep both hands on the wheel.

Amina Rafiq, 18, a law student from Glasgow who has not yet passed her test, knows that powerless passenger feeling. She believes that one of the main problems with novice drivers is a tendency to let the speedo creep upwards. "I think young drivers have this image of driving being cool, and driving slowly as uncool."

Katie Druce, 19, a psychology student at Glasgow Caledonian University, agrees. "I've known someone who would do 100mph if she could get away with it - obscenely dangerous," she says. "I think the driving test needs to be bigger and more diverse. I don't think instructors teach you about the social aspects of driving, like how your driving affects pedestrians and how it affects your friends."

Training people to be considerate drivers; discussing how mood affects driving skills; a qualification in road safety: suggestions such as these have been pouring into the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) over the summer as part of its Learning To Drive consultation, which ends on October 8. The consultation is on ways to develop a new training, testing and driving for life programme.

The impetus for the review is the accident rate. Overall, road accidents in Scotland, as in the UK, are down: recent government figures show there were 2316 serious injuries and 282 deaths on Scotland's roads in 2007, down 10% on 2006 and the lowest figure in 50 years. But the proportion of young drivers and passengers involved in accidents is not decreasing. According to the Institute of Advanced Motoring (IAM), one-third of all rural road deaths and serious injuries in Scotland are in cars with drivers aged under 25. This age group is more likely to have single vehicle accidents in which the vehicle leaves the road and more likely to be in fatal collisions involving three or more car occupants. One in five people has an accident within six months of passing their test; another 70% report near misses in the same period; and newly-qualified drivers and their passengers account for one in five of all car deaths in Britain.

The statistics are stark, but they do not begin to convey the real cost in grief and anguish. In July, the Morayshire village of Cullen was left stunned after a terrible accident in which three young people died when their car crashed into a van. Driver Mark Gardiner, 22, and Elena Putnam, 18, were killed instantly, while Elena's sister, Rachel, 20, died a few hours later in hospital.

The review by the DSA, the body responsible for driving standards and controlling the driving test UK-wide, has focused on young people themselves with a series of consultation events across the UK, including one in Glasgow in last month, giving the under-25s an opportunity to put their point of view.

One message is coming across loud and clear: it's not just your practical skills that determine what sort of a driver you are, but your mental attitude and emotional maturity.

Lorna McGregor, 20, a social sciences student at Nautical College in Glasgow, is currently learning to drive. She believes mood and state of mind can directly affect the way someone drives. "If you're going to be late for work, you're more impatient, or if you've just had an argument, you're going to be more aggressive," she says. She highlights impatience, overtaking when there's not enough room and having music blaring as potentially dangerous aspects of driving.

Experience, or the lack of it, is another big concern. Katie Druce, who passed her test just six months ago, finds new situations very unsettling. "The first time I was out in the snow, I had absolutely no idea how to deal with it," she says. She phoned four or five more experienced drivers for advice. Someone who has learned to drive mainly on quiet country roads might become tense and nervous in stop-start town traffic, whereas a town driver might be spooked by the speed of country drivers.

Many young people believe that more and broader training is required. Amina Rafiq believes that a qualification in road safety would be very beneficial. It should be optional and should be available not just at school but afterwards as well. "It should have some kind of incentive such as cheaper car insurance or free lessons," she says. Katie adds that the workings of a car should be explained in driver training and novice drivers should also get lessons in basic maintenance.

All these suggestions are being fed into the consultation on proposals published by Transport Minister Ruth Kelly in May. These include a new foundation course, available at schools and colleges, leading to a qualification on safe road use, a more thorough learning process and new training syllabus to ensure learners understand what's required to become a responsible driver and an improved driving test.

It comes at a time of intense activity on young driver safety. Earlier this summer, Road Safety Scotland weighed in with a new hi-tech advertising campaign warning young drivers of the dangers of using their mobile phones while at the wheel.

Strathclyde Police, meanwhile, is running a year-long campaign on novice driver safety. One method it favours is the parent-young driver contract, where a young person agrees to certain conditions, such as driving only during daylight and without back-seat passengers (both night driving and having friends in the back increase the risk of an accident occurring). Parents, too, have to make pledges, such as driving to a high standard themselves and agreeing that they will either collect their teenager or fund a taxi home at any hour.

Scottish road safety campaigners, with the backing of Scottish Government ministers, have also suggested to the DSA that Scotland could be used as a pilot area for so-called graduated licences, which operate in other countries such as Australia and New Zealand. The idea is to give people their first experience of driving in the safest conditions by introducing the full driving licence in stages. Such a scheme in Scotland might introduce a set period when, for example, young people were prohibited from driving at night, drinking any alcohol or from driving alone - they could be required instead to have a fully qualified driver of a certain age with them.

In the US, this approach is known as Tiffany's law after 16-year-old Tiffany Accardi who was killed along with four others in a 90mph crash less than two months after passing her test. American insurers believe that in the decade after the laws were gradually introduced in several US states, 1000 lives were saved.

Katie Druce, however, can't see accompanied driving working. "I'm not sure it's such a good idea because you have to be on your own at some point," she says. "Also, who's to say someone who has been driving for ages is going to be a better driver than you? And it's impractical: I drive at home because there's no-one to drive me. I think the likes of Pass Plus is better."

Pass Plus is a scheme to enable newly-qualified drivers to learn further skills. It is voluntary and module-based, with training covering town, night and all-weather driving, as well as dual carriageways and motorways. It might sound like a lot of extra effort but it has one great benefit: it enables those who do it to obtain cheaper car insurance.

Government figures show that a newly-qualified male driver faces an insurance premium from £1200 and a female driver of the same age faces a premium from £800 (three-quarters of new drivers are under 25).

But many insurance companies are prepared to cut the premiums if young drivers do an IAM or Pass Plus course. Direct Line recommends Pass Plus. "By completing extra driving modules that show you can cope in different circumstances, such as driving at night and driving on the motorway, then you could work your way towards a 20% discount for proving that you are a good driver."

So you could save money and save lives: ministers are hoping that's one message that will have universal appeal.

To contribute to the Learning to Drive consultation, to find out more or to download teachers' workshop packs to run sessions with young people.

Lessons worth learning

The DSA Young People's Forum on Learning to Drive consists of groups of pre-learners, learners and drivers aged 16-25 from Glasgow, Cardiff and Nottingham. Here are some of their suggestions for improving driver testing and training: School or college

Young people should start learning about driving before they get behind the wheel. A course should be offered both within and outside school, as an option or part of personal and social education. It should cover not only practical driving skills, but financial and legal issues, the social impacts of driving and also how interpersonal and emotional issues affect driving. This is one of the key proposals that the DSA is considering introducing across the UK.

Ways of improving the learning process

Use simulators for testing and improving spatial awareness, and teach basic car maintenance and repair.

Ensure that learners experience a range of driving environments or experiences, such as night-time driving, country, city and motorway driving.

Offer exercises that encourage learners to become more aware of their emotional state behind the wheel and the impact this might have on driving ability.

Ways of improving assessment

The forum members felt that if a learner is ready to drive, he or she should be able to demonstrate three things:
Physical ability (being able to control the car and understanding how it works).

Social skills and empathy with respect to other road users.

Emotional maturity (understanding the importance of being in the right frame of mind, staying patient and focused).

Instructors

Many forum members felt driving instructors could improve further in their job by tailoring their teaching to different types of learners and being a role model for how to interact with other drivers, including how to handle stress behind the wheel. Forum members said they would appreciate a "grading" system to help them choose instructors who were most suitable for them as individuals.