Road Safety Bill [HL]

I rise to speak to Amendment No. 120 which is in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Gardner of Parkes, and myself. Our amendment is slightly different to that of the noble Earl, Lord Dundee, in that we say that for six months after the granting of a full licence the driver shall display a plate with the letter ““R”” on it. The choice of the letter is of course purely arbitrary, but this is a system which pertains in Northern Ireland and has done so for a long time. It gives with it the ability to restrict what the person carrying an R-plate can do. The immediate suggestions are that they should be restricted in some way in speed and possibly be restricted from going on motorways. Something which worries many people is that the average driving test and indeed a great deal of the tuition takes place in daylight, and certainly not on motorways. Yet we allow somebody one day to be restricted to driving a car with an L-plate on it in the company of an adult and not on motorways to allowing them virtually to do as they wish. The result is that quite a lot of people end up having fairly serious accidents fairly soon after qualifying. There are many other professions or skills that one acquires in life where one spends some time working under supervision or where one is restricted to doing some things but not others. Having the ability to drive and passing a driving test is a privilege. It is not something to be accomplished lightly or to be made light of. I hope that in his reply to these amendments the Minister will hold out something to us in that he might respond to our concerns about novice drivers.