Graduated Driver Licencing ... another report

A 2021 Government report (House of Commons Transport Committee, 2021), published following the Transport Select Committee’s inquiry entitled ‘Road Safety: Young and novice drivers’, included an examination of the case for implementing GDL in Great Britain.

It noted that there is evidence for injury reduction from GDL, but also that there are concerns about the impact on other outcomes such as access to employment and education for young people.

Previously there had been a commitment in the 2019 Road Safety Statement to undertake research into these social and economic consequences of GDL. However, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, when giving evidence to the Transport Select Committee’s inquiry, noted that the research had not progressed, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns about the potential effects of GDL on employment.

This report therefore examines some of the questions which remain unanswered in terms of the social and economic consequences of GDL. It addresses the areas of concern raised in the House of Commons Transport Select Committee report, by means of a rapid evidence review of published literature, and through interviews with young people and international experts on GDL.

It has been prepared for the RAC Foundation and the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund by Dr Shaun Helman, Dr Neale Kinnear, Jack Hitchings and Dr Sarah Jones.