Study ‘confirms benefits’ of graduated driver licensing
Graduated driver licensing (GDL) can improve road safety while having minimal impact on new drivers’ access to education, employment and social activities. That’s according to a new report, carried out by TRL for the RAC Foundation and the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund.
GDL imposes some limited restrictions on new drivers, most of whom are young, to allow them to ‘safely gain experience in the critical few months after they pass their test’. The limitations target known risk situations such as driving in the dark and carrying peer-age passengers.
International evidence shows that GDL, in one form or another, can reduce collisions and trauma from collisions involving young drivers, by 20-40%.
Despite this, some policy makers – including members of parliament sitting on the Transport Select Committee – continue to have areas of concerns about GDL.
These include:
- Whether it reduces access to employment and education
- Its impact on those in rural areas
- The difficulty of enforcement
- Whether there are better alternatives such as telematics insurance which uses black box technology to monitor driving style and behaviour
However, the report, titled Supporting New Drivers in Great Britain, shows these worries – and a number of others – are broadly unfounded.
