Graduated driver licensing (GDL) is a form of phased licensing that introduces various requirements on new drivers to support them through their early driving career, when they are at greater risk of injury, and of injuring others in collisions. As well as encouraging greater and more varied practice during the learning phase, it targets the known risk situations of driving in the dark and carrying peer-age passengers, by imposing restrictions on these activities for a period after they have passed their test.
A 2021 Government report (House of Commons Transport Committee, 2021), published following the Transport Select Committee’s inquiry titled ‘Road Safety: Young and novice drivers’, included an examination of the case for implementing GDL in Great Britain. It noted that there is evidence for injury reduction from GDL, but also that there are concerns about the impact on other outcomes such as access to employment and education for young people. Previously there had been a commitment in the 2019 Road Safety Statement to undertake research into these social and economic consequences of GDL. However, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, when giving evidence to the Transport Select Committee’s inquiry, noted that this research is not progressing, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns about the potential effects of GDL on employment.
This report therefore examines some of the questions which remain unanswered in terms of the social and economic consequences of GDL. It addresses the areas of concern raised in the House of Commons Transport Select Committee report, by means of a rapid evidence review of published literature, and through interviews with young people and international experts on GDL. Eight areas of concern were addressed:
(1–4) potential impacts on access to employment and education, on the needs of specific groups (such as carers), on those in rural areas, and on social and health outcomes;
(5) difficulties concerning enforcement;
(6) lack of support from young people;(7) equivalent benefits being possible with telematics technology; and
(8) the reliance on evidence from other countries (the implication being that GDL will not work as well in Great Britain, which has generally safer roads).
On the basis of the evidence currently available, including the opinions of experts and young people interviewed, serious adverse impacts are not seen or expected in any of the areas considered. This is because all stakeholders (new drivers, and their friends and families; employers; and service providers) were found to adapt to restrictions, with evidence showing that exemptions and changes in travel patterns help people to maintain the most important elements of their mobility, while still benefitting from well-evidenced improvements in safety.
The debate about GDL in Great Britain has stalled after over two decades of inquiries and evidence gathering. This is likely to be partly due to the perception that GDL is a ‘one size fits all’ approach, whereas in reality it is a pick-and-mix suite of measures (for example minimum learning periods, and rules on how many passengers can be carried) that can be tailored to different situations and contexts, and which can support new drivers in their early driving, easing them through the riskiest aspects of being behind the wheel while they develop their skills. With one of the most rigorous and professionally delivered driver licensing systems in the world already in place, Great Britain is well positioned for GDL restrictions to be delivered without undue systematic change, thus further enhancing its road safety record and maintaining its world-leading position.
This report has been prepared for the RAC Foundation and the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund by Dr Shaun Helman, Dr Neale Kinnear, Jack Hitchings and Dr Sarah Jones.
