I grew up with graduated driving licences in Australia, they’re a great idea for the UK

When I moved to the UK as a 20-year-old, I was quite astonished at how many of my friends and colleagues – mostly boys, to be honest – had a story to tell about their ‘first car crash’. Many were silly failures of observation, or stories about tumbling through a hedge on a tight backroad. In my native Australia, accident rates among young drivers are equally high, but what was clear was the difference in tone, because to a far higher degree accidents in Australia all too often resulted in serious injury or even death. 

In order to curb young driver fatalities, the Australian government tightened the licensing rules right at the point that I was going through the motions, introducing graduated driving licences that limited how many passengers you could have in a car, and more importantly, who those people were. Driving your little brother or sister to school, for instance, was okay, but a car full of mates at 12am on a Friday night was understandably not. 

These rules are similar to those that have been employed in Northern Ireland, and I personally think it’s a good initiative to keep younger drivers safe. As a motorist who had to stay within the limits of such regulations, it annoyed me on some occasions, but of far more importance than my own irritations, it notably decreased the amount of fatal accidents for youngsters at the wheel. 

Curiously in the Northern Ireland system, there are no rules concerning what type of car a new driver is allowed to drive, whereas the Australian system is much more restrictive – likely on account of the general availability of high-performance models; often rear-wheel drive and frequently powered by powerful V8 engines. 

As a journalist who drives hundreds of different cars every year, the notion that a 17-year-old can, quite reasonably drive affordable EVs capable of hitting 0-62mph in less than four seconds is simply crazy, especially when the speed limits and road conditions are as they are in the UK. 

So in total defiance to my 17-year-old self, I don’t just think these graduated licences should expand beyond Northern Ireland into the UK, but as more and more powerful cars reach a point of accessibility for young drivers, these should also be considered as dangers to road users and bystanders around them. 

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