Picture Shows (L-R): Pete Tate (Durham Constabulary Casualty Reduction Coordinator), PCC Joy Allen, Nicola Stavers (Policy and Commissioning Officer) and Insp Andrew Howarth (Durham Roads & Armed Policing – DRAP)
Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen today renewed her call for urgent action to address young and inexperienced driver safety after new figures revealed the grim toll of collisions over five years.
The data, released by the Department for Transport (DfT), shows more than 23,000 people were killed or seriously injured in collisions involving young drivers (aged 17 to 24) in the five years between 2021 and 2025.
It comes days after the County Durham and Darlington PCC, an avid road safety campaigner, raised national concerns over the worrying trend of video uploads on social media glorifying reckless driving.
Around 7,500 of the casualties reported in the DfT figures over the five-year period were young drivers themselves while about 4,000 were passengers inside vehicles driven by a young driver. Additionally, a further 11,600 casualties included pedestrians and occupants of other vehicles.
The data shows that around a fifth of all road accidents that end with death or serious injury involve young drivers.
Safer Roads is a priority in the PCC’s Police, Crime and Justice Plan and the Commissioner has been tireless in her efforts to secure reform in her role as Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) Joint National Lead for Road Safety.
Alongside speaking at national conferences and Westminster meetings with bereaved families and road safety experts, the PCC has lobbied ministers arduously to overhaul licensing laws to allow young drivers to build experience gradually and safety through graduated driver licensing (GDL).
The PCC said the new data underlined the need for an urgent and comprehensive approach to young drivers combining education, enforcement, parental support and stronger protections for newly qualified drivers.
“These figures are truly shocking and must be treated with the same urgency and seriousness as other preventable loss of life,” she warned.
“We have known about the disproportionate risks facing young and newly qualified drivers for far too long. Parents have a hugely important role to play, and I strongly support Operation Spotlight, focusing on the fatal four driving offences causing most collisions. However, we cannot place the responsibility for addressing a national road-safety crisis on families alone.
“In my work as PCC, I frequently meet those left behind in such devastating and needless tragedies. Their experiences are heartbreaking reminders that behind every one of these statistics is a family suffering unimaginable grief and loss.
“We owe it to them and future families to match good intentions with meaningful action. That means introducing a graduated driving licensing system, considering restrictions on high-risk night-time driving and carrying young passengers, lowering the drink-drive limit for novice drivers, improving training and ensuring young people gain experience across rural roads and in difficult conditions. We must also crack down on the social media platforms providing a stage for alarming content glorifying reckless driving, backed by visible and robust enforcement.
“This is not about taking away young people’s independence or unfairly labelling them as dangerous. Most young drivers want to drive safely. It is about helping them develop experience gradually and protecting them, their passengers and every other person using our roads.
“The Government has set ambitious casualty-reduction targets. It must now implement evidence-led measures capable of delivering them. Warm words will not prevent the next collision – that needs sustained action.”
