Teenagers should be banned from carrying car passengers and acting like taxi drivers, says Brake

Teenagers should be banned from carrying car passengers and acting as taxi drivers for their friends, says leading UK road safety charity.

Brake charity provided their opinion to the Commons Transport Select Committee on Wednesday as part of a review into young and novice drivers.

It was argued that young drivers who pass their driving test should be banned initially from carrying passengers as they are more likely to be involved in a fatal or serious crash.

Young drivers aged 17-24 account for seven percent of the UK’s driving licence holders but are involved in 20% of fatal and serious collisions. Concerned about these high collision and casualty rates, the Transport Select Committee is looking to scrutinise the Government’s actions to reduce the risks of young and novice drivers being involved in a road traffic collision.

Mary Williams, Brake Chief executive, said: “Teen drivers are basically free commercial taxi drivers and this is the truth that contributes to the high casualty rates caused by young drivers who are also killing vulnerable road users outside vehicles.

“If we consider young drivers as taxi drivers for their mates, then we need to consider them… as occupational drivers.

“Then we start to think sensibly about a phased driver licensing system, in the same context that, for example, many of the fleet supporters of Brake do when they are training, evaluating and monitoring their novice and young commercial vehicle drivers.”