Leading driving school says Graduated Licensing is not the best route
RED Driving School encourages a proactive attitude to improve road safety
Cardiff University has released research findings, which they say, supports the introduction of Graduated Licensing (GDL), similar to the schemes operated in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many parts of the USA.
The university’s department of primary care analysed every road crash in the UK from 2000 – 2007, which involved drivers aged 17 - 19 to produce an estimate of the number of lives that would be saved by GDL restrictions. The research suggests that GDL would prevent approximately 200 deaths per year.
Dr Sarah Jones, who led the research, said: “GDL works in other countries and there’s no good reason why it wouldn’t work here. The cost to the NHS would be significantly reduced.
“It’s not only lives that would be saved. Insurance costs should drop substantially if the number of crashes involving young drivers were reduced.”
While RED Driving School would support measures that are proven to reduce motor accidents on our roads, it believes these measures are reactive to the issue rather than looking at how to be proactive in reducing the initial problem. In addition, for this to be a successful strategy, it would need to be policed effectively, which could be incredibly difficult to achieve.
Chris Hewitt, Managing Director of RED Driving School, said: “We feel that more emphasis should be placed on driver attitudes before young drivers get behind the wheel. As one of the leading driving schools in the UK, we invest heavily in our road safety operation to promote this subject to young people in schools, colleges and at community events nationwide.”
For more information about RED’s road safety work please visit http://www.reddrivingschool.com/simulator.aspx.
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For more information contact:
Laura Harris
Press Officer, RED Driving School
T: 01273 547900
E: laura.harris@go-red.co.uk
Notes to editors
Driving Results Ltd is the UK’s leading provider of vocational training within the driving instructor industry, with related businesses supplying educational and other services across the market. With an annual turnover in excess of £40m, Driving Results employs more than 300 staff over 22 locations.
Driving Results Ltd consists principally of six trading divisions which represent a thriving portfolio of services and products operating across the driving instruction industry. These include RED Instructor Training, RED Driving School, FBTC (accountancy service), adiNEWS (subscription based trade magazine), PDIA (practical driving instructor aids) and RED Fleet Training (managing occupational road risk).
RED Driving School teaches learner drivers to pass their government driving test, always striving to make the journey to becoming a safe and confident driver fun. Individual driving instructors enter franchise agreements with RED, allowing them to trade under the company’s established and trusted name. Instructors benefit from centralised lesson booking and a national advertising programme.
RED Driving School is proud to be affiliated with Brake, the road safety charity, as headline sponsor for its ‘2young2die’ competition, an educational project aimed at 11 - 25 year olds that tasks young people to take ownership of the topic of road safety.
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