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Young driver crashes kill or injure 23,000 people in just five years
Police said young drivers are overrepresented in serious crashes, with weekends, evenings and rural roads posing the highest risks.
Police warned yesterday that more than 23,000 people have been killed or seriously injured in crashes involving drivers aged 17 to 24 over the past five years. The figures underscore elevated risks among young motorists on UK roads.
Rural roads prove significantly more dangerous than urban areas, with 87 crashes per 100,000 people in country settings versus 43 in cities. National Police Chiefs Council identified weekends and evenings as high-risk times for young driver accidents.
Transport figures from 2021 to 2025 show around 7,500 crashes involved young drivers directly, with more than 4,000 passengers and more than 11,600 other road users affected. Nearly a third of young drivers in fatal collisions were in single-vehicle crashes, compared to 23% of all drivers.
Police are encouraging parental supervision through Operation Spotlight, while behavioural scientist Dr Elizabeth Box of IAM RoadSmart emphasized that passing a test is only the beginning. "Passing the driving test is an important milestone, but it isn't the point at which learning ends," Box said.
Northern Ireland introduces Graduated driving licences next month, including a six-month wait for practical tests and two-year R plate requirements. Great Britain has no such plans, despite evidence that similar schemes in Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden, and Finland reduce crashes by between five and 40%.