Road Safety report: higher crash risk for young drivers in rural areas
rural young drivers 37% more likely to be involved in collisions
By Bob Hume, 10th February 2012
A report by Road Safety Analysis released today has revealed that risk levels for young drivers vary according to where they live. The organisation, specialists in examining road casualty trends, found that young drivers residing in rural areas of the UK are 37 per cent more likely to be involved in an injury collision than their urban counterparts.
Dan Campsall, director of Road Safety Analysis says: “This is the first time that we have had a thorough examination of the risks to young drivers based on where they live; and the results are stark. Younger drivers from rural areas are much more likely to be involved in a crash where someone is injured and we need to see a package of measures developed that can bring about a change. This may require investment in transport infrastructure, community bus schemes and further driver training to affect the inequality that these drivers are experiencing.”
Young drivers are generally more likely to be involved in a crash, with 30% of all motor vehicle drivers involved in collisions aged between 16 and 29 years old, yet this age group only makes up 18 per cent of the population. This report calculates that young rural drivers are two-thirds more likely to be involved in an injury collision than their older neighbours.
One of the main factors in the risk profile, is the much higher average annual mileages driven by rural drivers with 31% more miles driven than city-dwellers. Road Safety Analysis suggests that this increased exposure, combined with their relative inexperience compared to older drivers is a signal to rural local authorities and police forces that special attention is required.
One further piece of analysis carried out was to rank young driver risk, based on residency in each of the 379 local authority areas in Great Britain. This was then used to create a map showing regional hotspots and is included at the end of this release along with the best and worst performing areas.
For a copy of the full results including a breakdown of casualty rates for all 206 highway authorities, visit www.roadsafetyanalysis.org
