Skip to main content

UK’s young drivers diminishing in number

Data available from the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) shows a continuing drop in the number of young people learning to drive. According to DfT research, fewer teenagers and young adults are now taking driving lessons or sitting driving tests than in previous decades. The cost of insurance is thought to be a major factor, since insurance firms have begun using more accurate calculations to determine the risk of young adults being involved in a crash. This has led to a massive jump in insurance premium
September 12, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Data available from the UK’s 5432 Department for Transport (DfT) shows a continuing drop in the number of young people learning to drive. According to DfT research, fewer teenagers and young adults are now taking driving lessons or sitting driving tests than in previous decades. The cost of insurance is thought to be a major factor, since insurance firms have begun using more accurate calculations to determine the risk of young adults being involved in a crash. This has led to a massive jump in insurance premiums for young drivers. The DfT has also calculated that young drivers aged 17-24 have eight times the risk of being involved in a crash than the average driver. The DfT’s data shows that only a third of young men now pass their driving test while still a teenager, compared with 51% in the mid-1990s. However there has only been a comparatively small drop in the number of young females passing their driving test.

The issue of falling interest in driving and cars has been noted in other countries and by auto manufacturers. However. Car firms are engaging in a major debate over encouraging young people to drive, although the issue is more complicated due to the emergence of autonomous car technology.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Italian manufacturer body Unacea reveals machine exports
    October 31, 2014
    The Italian construction equipment manufacturer body Unacea has revealed comprehensive information on machine sales and exports. The data shows that construction machine sales in Italy grew 12% in the first nine months of 2014. However exports fell 7% and Unacea believes that the export performance of Italian manufacturers on the world market will have shrunk by the end of the year compared with the figures for 2013. Over the first nine months of 2014, construction equipment sold in the Italian market sto
  • Future fuels providing power to the wheels?
    August 7, 2014
    Ever since Henry Ford began mass manufacturing his Model T in 1908, the motor car has grown vastly in importance and has helped transform transportation. However the future availability of fossil fuels as well as concerns over pollution and climate change from CO2 emissions has seen the auto industry look to alternative powertrain solutions. Looking at the powertrain possibilities for the future there are a number of options. Hybrids to a large extent are an interim solution while those for the longer ter
  • £8 billion UK tunnel project to go ahead
    January 30, 2025
    The £8 billion UK Lower Thames Crossing tunnel project is to go ahead.
  • Latin America road safety plan proposed
    June 14, 2019
    A new report suggests key strategies to cut road deaths and injuries in Latin America. The report was commissioned by Bloomberg Philanthropies and shows that more than 25,000 Latin American lives could be saved and over 170,000 serious injuries prevented by 2030 if United Nations (UN) vehicle safety regulations were applied by four key countries in the region—Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Brazil. The report was prepared by the UK-based Transport Research Laboratory (TRL). The aim of the study was to estimat