Sadly, it is unlikely that the majority of young drivers reading this page won’t believe a word of what’s written on it. But facts are facts. So at Three Counties Advanced Drivers and Riders, we want to help you to banish these ‘unfair’ tags, determined to work with you to reduce the statistics, and through driver training we want more young drivers to be recognised as Advanced Drivers.
Research and casualty data shows that young drivers – (sorry fellas, but particularly young male drivers) are at a much higher risk of crashing than older drivers. The stark reality therefore is that you are at a greater risk of losing your life, being seriously injured on the road, or killing or injuring your young passengers or other road users. In the UK, one in eight driver licence holders is aged 25 or under, yet one in three drivers who die in road traffic collisions is under 25.
Other frightening data from the UK shows that:
An 18-year-old driver is more than 3 times as likely to be involved in a collision as a 48 year-old.
One in 5 new drivers has a collision within six months of passing their test.
Young male drivers – more bad news for you fellas!
Young male drivers have much higher collision rates than young female drivers due to higher risk taking. In the UK, young male drivers aged 17-20 are 7 times more at risk than all male drivers – but between the hours of 2am and 5am their risk is 17 times higher.
Speed
Young drivers are more likely to seek thrills from driving fast and cornering at high speed than older drivers. Even sticking to the speed limit can be too fast in the wrong conditions – such as on bendy country roads – but young drivers, particularly male drivers, may be reluctant to drive under the speed limit for fear of ‘losing face’ in front of friends.
Alcohol
In the UK, male drivers under 25 have the highest incidence of failing a breath test after being involved in a road collision in which someone was injured. In 2004, 5.7% of male 20-24 year-old drivers and 4.2% of male 17-19 year-old drivers involved in injury collisions failed breath-tests, compared to 3.1% of drivers of all ages. Any amount of alcohol can affect a person’s ability to drive safely as alcohol impairs reaction times and affects the ability to judge speed and distances accurately. Alcohol or drugs combined with a lack of experience on roads is a particularly dangerous combination.
Source: Brake, the Road Safety Charity
Phew…glad thats over! For those of you still convinced ‘this won’t happen to me, I’m a great driver’ Good Luck! For everyone else, joining Three Counties Advanced Drivers & Riders will be as good a decision as that new boom box taking up your boot space, or those oversized new alloy wheels. In fact, joining TCAD is as sick as the new iPhone 5. Simply complete the contact form below, and one of us will get in touch.
