Local family backs campaign to cut death toll on our roads

Four young drivers die or are seriously injured every week

ROAD safety campaigners are calling on the Government to take urgent action to prevent the number of deaths and serious accidents to young drivers. The campaign is being backed locally following a spate of deaths on the county’s roads last year, including one in Forest when a 19- year-old man was killed.

Four teenagers die or are seriously injured each week in Britain, according to new figures from the RAC Foundation. The charity and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents wants the Government to take action, saying one in five newly qualified young drivers will have an accident within six months of passing their test.

In Wiltshire, a series of road tragedies saw seven young men aged under 25 dying in a six-week period late last year.

Now the Government is being asked to look into what can be done to prevent accidents involving young new drivers.  Suggestions include a restriction on the number of passengers a new, young driver can have in the car, changes in the practical test, a minimum amount of hours of professional tuition, a ban on drinking any alcohol and a new graduated licence scheme.

Nicky Lewis, mother of Max Lewis, 19, who died last November in a car accident on Forest Lane in Melksham is backing the charity, The Honest Truth, which encourages safer driving.

She told Melksham News, “Our family and many friends of Max are supporting the charity The Honest Truth, which is a partnership working together to reduce antisocial driving and the number of young people killed or seriously injured on the roads. There will also be a number of fund raising events forthcoming in Max’s memory for this charity.”

Graduated licensing, which has been called for by the RAC Foundation, includes a minimum learning period followed by a post-test novice driver period with licence restrictions, such as driving at night and carrying passengers.

RAC Foundation director Professor Stephen Glaister said, “Graduated licensing has been common in many countries for some time and would help keep newly qualified young drivers, and their passengers, safe during the critical first thousand miles after people have passed their test.

“It is a great disappointment that successive governments have failed to tackle an issue that is causing so much physical and emotional pain. If this was any other area of social and health policy there would be debates in parliament and marches on Downing Street, but for some reason society seems to tolerate the carnage on our roads, particularly that involving young people.”

Professor Glaister urged the new Government to issue a green paper on young driver safety.

Local driving instructor Duncan Donachie from D D Driving School said, “I believe it is the experience of driving that cements what they have learnt in their lessons.

“I most certainly prepare my students for life on the road. They definitely don’t just learn how to pass the test. I teach them fundamental road safety for the future.

“I think it might be a good idea to have a legal minimum of lessons or hours before you can do a test.”