Bedford Driving Lessons

The government must drastically improve the extra training offered to young drivers after they pass their test, road safety groups and insurance companies have told Newsbeat. Official figures show one in three of those killed or seriously hurt in a crash is between 17 and 24 years old. Newly qualified drivers can take the Pass Plus course which teaches skills like motorway and night driving. But a number of insurance companies have dropped their support for it. They say the scheme does not cut accident rates. Graeme Trudgill from the British Insurance Brokers’ Association said: “Insurers would love to give great big discounts to people who could take a course and then had fewer claims. “Unfortunately the results do not show that. We really need an improvement to Pass Plus.” Road safety groups like Brake want the government to go even further and introduce graduated licences, which stop drivers carrying young passengers or driving late at night until they have built up experience. Around half the 1.5 million people who take the driving test each year are teenagers, with young male drivers achieving the best first time pass rates. But the skills they learn are not necessarily making them safe on the roads. A male aged 17 to 20 is 10 times more likely to have a serious crash than one over 35, according to insurance industry data. More