Road Safety Bill [HL]

I accept the truth of that position. If the argument is that learner drivers should have all sorts of restrictions imposed on them because they can kill people, and I can suggest an environment in which fewer people will be killed because the roads are safer, my argument holds, even if I accept the noble Lord’s point that there are special features with regard to motorway driving. I do not see the point of adding a restriction when those roads present fewer challenges to the newly qualified driver than other roads. Although some desperate accidents occur on all kinds of roads, most of the time accidents that lead to death and which involve young people do not happen on motorways but on local roads. I hear what noble Lords are saying about restrictions improving driving. The noble Earl, Lord Dundee, has pursued this argument with great skill over a number of years. Our concern is to ensure that graduated learning happens before the test. That is the way in which we can guarantee the highest level of driving. If it is thought that I am very negative about other restrictions on drivers—and I am because I do not believe that there is proof that any of these restrictions would improve driving quality—I must say that I recognise that newly qualified drivers are more prone to accidents. If the statistics were not available, common sense would dictate that those who have just learnt to drive have less skill than those who have been driving for some time. The Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995 exactly recognises that fact. It puts newly qualified drivers on probation for two years after passing their driving test. If during that period a driver reaches six or more penalty points his or her licence is automatically revoked and he or she has to start again. That is a restriction on the freedom of the newly qualified driver; that is a way of bringing home to them that, of course, they have passed one of the more demanding driving tests in the world, but they are also placing themselves on roads that often provide some of the most demanding conditions in the world and they are on probation. If they commit no offence, have no traffic difficulties of any kind, they pass the test and enjoy the same freedoms as the rest of us. However, if anything goes wrong in those first two years, it would be a rather condign punishment to say that their licences are taken away. I emphasise to noble Lords that I accept the argument that we have a special issue with regard to newly qualified drivers. I maintain that improving the standards of tuition, enhancing the status of the test, and having that one obvious requirement on the newly qualified driver, meets the situation as best as we can. I hope noble Lords will withdraw their amendments.