Learner drivers will be given lessons in the dark before taking their test in bid to slash number of accidents
- Format will be similar to pilot training which helps cope with adverse conditions
- Learners may keep a ‘logbook’ to document their different driving conditions
- Overhaul is designed to reduce number of serious accidents involving novices
Learners will be taught how to drive in the dark and while distracted under plans to reduce the number of accidents involving young motorists.
A format for driving lessons modelled on the training given to pilots to help them cope with flying in adverse conditions is to be tested by the Government.
A ‘logbook’ in which learners document their driving in different conditions and locations may also be introduced.
Learner drivers will be given lessons in the dark before taking their test in bid to slash number of accidents. Format will be similar to pilot training to better prepare for adverse conditions
The logbook would need to include evidence of a learner having driven in rain and on rural as well as inner-city roads in order to pass, transport minister Baroness Charlotte Vere said.
The overhaul is designed to reduce the number of serious accidents involving young and novice drivers.
While drivers aged 25 and under make up around 7 per cent of licence holders they cause 16 per cent of serious and fatal crashes.
Baroness Vere said the new curriculum to teach learners how to deal with a range of road and weather conditions was due to begin trials in January.
She told the Transport Committee: ‘What will happen is that there will be various modules – one driving in adverse conditions, one driving after dark, one at high speed [and] one of distracted driving.
While drivers aged 25 and under make up around 7 per cent of licence holders they cause 16 per cent of serious and fatal crashes so new training format is a bid to reduce that number
‘It should be a very organised and well-evidenced way of going through the entire undertaking of learning to drive, and it must focus on the areas people find most difficult.’
However, Baroness Vere said plans to bring in graduated driving licences had been scrapped.
Such rules would have placed restrictions on new drivers for a period after they pass their test – for example banning them driving with passengers in the car.
She said ministers had rejected these proposals partly because of the impact they could have on young people’s job prospects.