GDL on Hold

At the end of 2013, all we heard about was the Government’s plans to change young driver laws in order to reduce the shocking number of fatalities on UK roads. However, once again this ‘Green Paper’ has been delayed leaving all young drivers wondering about the state of their future on the roads.

The paper which was due to be released in January this year, was set to review possibilities such as ‘graduated driver licensing’ (GDL). However according to the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, Robert Goodwill MP, the government are having trouble coming to a unanimous decision and will issue the paper after more consideration.

Many people feel passionately that the GDL must be actioned. A group of transport experts wrote a letter to the British Medical Journal emphasising the figures from the Department for Transport which show 25% of deaths in 15-19 year olds were due to road traffic accidents between 2010/11.

The group spoke out, “The need for GDL is clear and there is widespread support for its implementation from the road safety sector, the insurance industry, those working in public health, the police, road safety charities and politicians.”

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