Call for driving test age to be raised to '18 or higher'
Thursday 25 February 2010 Back to Blog
Drivers of contract hire vans may have to be 18 or older in the future should a new campaign to have the driving test age raised be successful.
Road safety charity Brake is appealing to the government to have the age a person can legally drive raised to at least 18 to minimise accidents.
Mary Williams OBE, Brake's chief executive, said: "Young people's cognitive abilities finish developing in their mid-20's, while their thrill seeking tendencies are developed by the time they are about 15."
"Brake has been calling for the driving test age to be raised to 18 or even higher. The higher you go, the fewer deaths you will have."
The group have also stated they want to see graduated driver licensing introduced whereby drivers achieve their full license in stages as they become more experienced.
According to the charity's statistics, nearly one in three road deaths (29 per cent) in 2007 were in crashes involving a van, truck, bus or coach.