40% of road deaths are young drivers

Young drivers account for more than two in five road deaths, according to new research by safety campaign organisation Brake.

Brake says that 1297 of the 3201 deaths in 2005 involved a motorist or rider aged between 15 and 25, according to figures supplied to it by the Department for Transport and the Northern Ireland Police Service, despite the fact they account for just one in eight licenses.

Road crashes remain the leading cause of death for people aged between 15 and 24.

The safety group said graduated driver licensing, where the training process is broken into more stages, is urgently needed to better equip young motorists with vital skills. Brake also wants road safety to be made a compulsory part of the national education curriculum.

Brake's head of education, Jools Townsend, said: 'Too many young people think they are invincible and fail to consider how their dangerous actions behind the wheel can kill and maim themselves, their friends and other road users.'

The Department for Transport is once again considering a shake-up of driving training, three years after it rejected a wide range of proposals put forward following two years of intensive consultation.