The AA has suggested that young drivers can be unfairly branded as dangerous drivers when, in truth, age has nothing to do with the increased risk of accident.
Instead it is the novelty of having a new car and trying to impress friends that often adds danger to the situation.
Head of road safety Andrew Howard explained that bad driving often came down to the driver’s attitude and suggested that there should be more focus on educating people against using their car as a means of “self-expression”.
“We need to be talking to people who are 13 and 14 about developing the right attitudes towards driving, not leaving it until [they’re] 17,” he said.
“There is a wonderful quote in one of our pieces of research in the 90s which said that young drivers drive badly not because they don’t know how to drive well but because they choose to drive badly.”
The comments follow statistics from The Co-Operative Insurance and Brake, which show that almost a third (30 per cent) of young drivers admit to dangerous or illegal driving.
Driving can be a useful skill for young people – especially if they plan to explore the UK or Europe in a caravan.
