Evidence & Expert Opinion Backs Young Driver Initiative – Pirelli

In February the Young Driver programme, which Pirelli is a major sponsor of, received a measure of negative press after the publishing of comments by a Police Federation inspector and a RoSPA representative. Ken Clinton, head of road safety for the RoSPA, went as far as commenting that the scheme “will probably mean youngsters will take fewer lessons when they come to learn to drive, and if they take fewer lessons they will get less experience.” In defence of the scheme, Pirelli has responded that a flood of evidence supports the initiative and the positive impact it will have on reducing the number of road accidents across Britain.

As Pirelli explains, the concept that accidents can be reduced if drivers are able to learn from a younger age is based upon scientific research in Sweden where the age limit for driving was lowered from 17 and a half to 16 years in the 1990s. This age reduction effectively extended the length of time between when a novice driver first sat behind the wheel and the granting of a full license. The implementation of this new law reduced the risk for novice drivers of being involved in an accident by approximately 40 per cent, thus demonstrating that increased experience behind the wheel results in a lower risk of accidents.  The Young Driver initiative, which operates at weekends and during school holidays, is designed to provides lesson in a safe environment so that children can familiarise themselves with the a car’s controls and instruments, focus on learning vehicle control and gain invaluable experience before having to deal with real life road traffic situations.

In February, Inspector Alan Jones from the Police Federation posed the question: “Are kids mature enough at 11, 12, 13 years old to understand what’s happening on the roads, to be able to manage all the demands and pressures?” Providing his own answer, he stated he wasn’t persuaded this was a good idea.  West Midlands Police assistant chief constable Anil Patani disagrees. “If this stops one of my officers having to call on a family to explain that their child has been killed in a road accident, it has to be worth it,” he reflected.

Another voice supporting the Young Driver initiative is that of Peter Roger, Chief Examiner for the Institute of Advanced Motorists. “Young people are having accidents through lack of experience, so let’s give then some,” he said. “Experience behind the wheel reduces the chances of accidents, so let’s develop our children’s attitudes correctly and let’s develop their skills so that when they do start to drive independently on the public road amongst the rest of us they are less at risk and so are we. Give them a chance.”

As part of the sponsorship deal, Pirelli has provided tyres, including the P7 and P6 Cinturato, for use on the Seat Ibiza cars driven in the initiative. Dominic Sandivasci, managing director at Pirelli UK Tyres Ltd, commented that Pirelli is proud to be supporting the initiative and is actively seeking to improve safety on Britain’s roads. “There is significant scientific support for the Young Driver scheme reducing accident risk in novice drivers, and we are pleased to be proactively supporting its implementation in the UK to improve road safety,” said Sandivasci. “One in five drivers is involved in an accident behind the wheel within the first six months of passing their driving test.  This is a figure we would like to see much reduced, as has been the case in Sweden, by providing novices with more time to learn how to control their cars in a safe environment.”

Numbers of participants in the Young Driver programme have rapidly increased throughout 2010, with a total of almost 2,000 bookings for the scheme having been made. Pirelli reports that parents and children taking part in the scheme have been very impressed – 98 per cent of parents believed that the scheme is contributing to road safety and 100 per cent said that they would recommend it to a friend.