Under-18s May Be Prevented From Taking the Wheel Alone

Young drivers may be prevented from driving a car alone until they are 18 under proposals to overhaul the driving test for the first time in more than 70 years.

If endorsed by the government, the plans, which will be published in the new year, would mean 17-year-olds would still get a provisional pass but, as in other countries, be required to take a harder practical test of driving skill a year later before they get a full license.

Another proposal to cut road deaths could result in all learners being required take a specified minimum number of lessons from professionally qualified driving instructors, who would themselves have to undergo regular retraining.

Ministers have decided that too much attention is paid to learner drivers' ability to handle a car and not enough to psychological and behavioral factors behind the wheel, such as overconfidence and recklessness, which contribute to the high rate of death and injury among the young.

"It's as much psychological as it is a matter of controlling the car," said one Whitehall source who cited the Australian and Scandinavian practice of including driving skills as part of vocational preparation-for-adult-life classes in schools. As a result, a series of recent proposals for tackling immature young drivers, including recommendations from the Commons transport committee and the Driving Standards Agency, will be issued for wider consultation next month.

Ruth Kelly, the transport secretary, and Jim Fitzpatrick, the road safety minister, have been told that newly qualified drivers are one of five at-risk categories, which also include motorcyclists, drivers who drink or wear no seat belt and those rushing to work.

Each group accounts for up to 600 deaths each year - the bulk of Britain's 3,000-plus road fatalities.

Ministers want harder practical tests for learner drivers to include skills such as reversing round a corner and parallel parking, logged by a qualified instructor, and more experience of high-speed roads before being allowed untrammeled access.

Not all ideas floated by MPs are deemed practical, including the suggestion that newly qualified drivers be required not to have passengers under 22.

Meanwhile a European study on driving standards showed yesterday that the number of UK motorists failing drink-drive tests in a week-long period before Christmas was well above the European average.

Out of 34,160 UK drivers tested between December 10 and 16, 1,356, or 4%, were over the legal limit, statistics from Tispol, the European traffic police network, revealed.

The European average for drivers over the alcohol limit was 2.5%, an increase on the average of 2.1% recorded in a similar operation in December 2006.