A 74-point Department for Transport plan sets out measures to improve safety for people at every stage of life, from infants to older drivers.
One action that has attracted the media’s spotlight is the plan to explore ‘Graduated Driving Licensing’, which could potentially lead to young adults facing driving bans at night – a system already in place in New Zealand, New York, California, Sweden, and parts of Australia and Canada.
Research has shown that one in 5 new drivers crashes within their first year on the road. Although these schemes have been rejected previously due to concerns that it would adversely affect the ability of young people to get on in life (potentially restricting education and jobs), conducting further research means the DfT can build an evidence base to fully understand how a graduated driver scheme might work.
In addition, failure to wear a seatbelt could result in penalty points as well as fines – currently offenders are given a £100 on-the-spot fine – with 27% of car deaths in 2017 involved people that were not wearing a seatbelt.
In other road safety measures, the government is currently consulting on banning tyres aged 10 years and older from buses, coaches, minibuses and HGVs. If proposals are supported, new laws could be introduced later this year, ready to come into force early 2020.
View the action plan published by the Department for Transport and DVSA.