How many more tragedies before Starmer sees sense | Tech News
Keir Starmer ought to look intently at younger driver accidents (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer desires to make Britain’s roads safer – and that may be no unhealthy factor. But as he appears to be like set to introduce new driving guidelines for motorists over the age of 70 in 2026 pensioners but again are being painted as accidents ready to occur whose car keys need hiding down the back of a couch.
The Government is operating a session on launching obligatory eyesight checks, which may see pensioners pressured to verify their imaginative and prescient each three years to remain on the roads.
Boosting street security is essential, and the choice has been properly obtained by industry and security campaigners. Eye exams for drivers over a sure age are smart however introducing new guidelines on the similar time as stricter drink-drive limits provides the damaging impression that pensioners are the largest trigger of accidents when they aren’t.
Data conclusively reveals that drivers between the age of 17 and 24 are essentially the most harmful. Not solely are youthful drivers much less skilled and more at risk of accidents, they’re additionally more more likely to wish to put their foot to the ground and show off to their associates. How many tales do you learn on Doris, 83, rolling her Subaru whle doing 110mph down a B-road?
Yet seemingly each week a new tragedy emerges the place a younger driver has been displaying off or just displaying no regard for his or her security or anybody else’s.
This month, two brothers appeared in court docket having hit speeds of up to 90mph racing across the millionaires’ playground of Sandbanks in Dorset in a Mercedes A200 and BMW 135i.
When Harrison Taylor, 19, and his brother, Henry, 21, inevitably crashed it left a 17-year-old passenger with devastating accidents. The automobiles had been bought by their dad and mom to help the brothers recover from the actual fact they’d damaged up.
READ MORE: Drivers over 70 might be banned from roads in 2026 – new checks ‘likely’
READ MORE: Every over 70 at risk of ‘mandatory driving retest’ after push for new guidelines
Older motorists will quickly face imaginative and prescient checks, however are consultants trying on the flawed subject? (Image: Getty)
Buying such highly effective automobiles for such younger drivers suggests you’ve got acquired more money than sense.
This adopted 21-year-old Jorja Colville killing three passengers in July 2024 after shedding control of her Ford Focus whereas travelling at over 90mph. Meanwhile, footage of a car clocking 122mph is being studied by police who’re investigating a head-on crash in Bolton final weekend which claimed the lives of 4 people together with three youngsters.
Families have clearly had enough with campaigners from Forget Me Not Families calling for youthful drivers to face strict new guidelines underneath a Graduated Driving Licence system. They have known as for a ban on 17- to 19-year-old drivers carrying passengers, in addition to a six-month night-time driving curfew and a minimal studying period.
According to Government information, in 2024, one-fifth of casualties killed or critically injured had been from automobiles the place a younger driver was behind the wheel. The statistics additionally show that younger males between 17 and 24 are 4 occasions as more likely to be killed or critically injured in comparison with these over 25.
Data from Cardiff University reveals that round one in 5 newly certified drivers crash within six months of getting their licence.
The Department for Transport (DfT) is already taking a look at potential modifications, consulting on a minimal time period between passing a idea check and sitting a sensible examination.
Parents have known as for new guidelines on youthful and less-experienced drivers (Image: Getty)
New guidelines may additionally guarantee no one underneath the age of 20 can carry passengers aged 25 or underneath for six months after passing their check. A pre-consultation research on the thought discovered that initial reactions to the idea had been “were negative”, which means new guidelines will doubtless be a onerous sell.
However, Juliet Seccombe, whose 16-year-old daughter Matilda “Tilly” Seccombe was killed by inexperienced driver Edward Spencer simply six weeks after passing his check, described the truth completely.
She mentioned: “It’s no good simply accepting there’s a downside – do one thing about it. Doing nothing goes to trigger another household the ache and anguish we’re going by way of.”
At the bare minimum, Labour needs to introduce a minimum learning period now. But why not go further? For a start, let’s raise the minimum driving age from 17 to 18 and then ban passengers, except for a parent or guardian, from sitting in cars until a licence holder is 21.
Action must be taken now, and a concentrate on older drivers is taking time and a spotlight away from essentially the most major problem of all.
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