Driving is hard. The act of operating an automobile safely is easily one of the most complicated and intricate tasks most of us perform on a daily basis – not to mention one of the deadliest. Unfortunately, that means that young drivers are much more at risk of being involved in an accident due to having less experience behind the wheel. In the UK alone, 400 serious injuries or deaths are caused by young drivers, and the government is now considering taking teen drivers off the road – well, at night anyway. To combat these (arguably) preventable deaths, British Prime Minister Theresa May has announced she is requesting the Department for Transport look into enacting new laws to prevent accidents caused by teen drivers.
May proposed introducing so-called graduated drivers license laws which only allow drivers to drive during certain times of the day, namely during daylight hours. May made the proposal after a heart wrenching testimony by Labour Party MP Jenny Chapman from Darlington which described the death of one of her constituents at the hands of a teenage driver and cited statistics which show one in four drivers under the age of twenty-four is involved in an accident during their first two years of driving.
The new graduated drivers license laws are intended to save lives, but could end up saving households money as well. According to CompareTheMarket.com, these laws might drastically lower insurance premiums for younger drivers:
The idea behind these new plans is clear, and these measures should result in safer roads for all. While it may initially feel like a harsh restriction for new drivers, it’s worth considering that these limitations on their licenses should reduce their insurance risk profiles, which could ultimately see the cost of their insurance reduce significantly.
Several other countries including Australia and New Zealand have such graduated drivers license restrictions, and many US states already limit new drivers from driving at night for periods of up to a year. Are these laws justified?
