A new report by the UK’s leading road safety charity IAM RoadSmart and TRL into crashes involving young drivers has concluded that they need to learn quicker how to avoid crashes with the most vulnerable users on our roads.
The report found that while they learn much quicker than expected to avoid single vehicle loss of control collisions, they learn a lot slower how to deal with vulnerable road users, be safe on the motorway and safely complete low speed manoeuvres.
IAM RoadSmart said these findings proved a surprise, as the classic young driver crash usually involves going too fast on a country road. It would seem that new drivers themselves soon pick up the skills to stay safe on our highest risk roads.
The report, titled Young Novice Driver Collision Types , makes several key recommendations to improve new driver training particularly in hazard perception around vulnerable road users and around other vehicles.