Cumbria’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (Commissioner), David Allen, met with campaigner Sharron Huddleston to give his support for Graduated Drivers Licences (GDL).
Sharron's daughter Caitlin, aged 18, tragically lost her life in 2017 in a car crash. She was a passenger in a car driven by her friend who had passed her driving test four months previously and she also sadly lost her life, aged 18. The driver lost control of the car on a bend in a wet rural road. A third passenger, aged 18, and an oncoming van driver were also seriously injured in the crash. Following the tragedy of losing her daughter, Sharron began campaigning for a British Graduated Driving Licensing system.
GDLs would prohibit young, newly-qualified drivers from carrying peer-aged passengers until they have been driving for at least six months, providing them with more time to gain skills as an independent driver.
GDLs have already been adopted by other countries with success – Victoria, Australia introduced Graduated Drivers Licences in 2007 and by 2013 saw a reduction in fatal collisions by 30% and 13% reduction for fatal and seriously injured collisions combined. In New Zealand, the introduction of GDLs led to a reduction in car crash injuries by 23% for 15–19-year-olds and 12% for 20–24-year-olds. A study carried out in 2022 by TRL for the RAC Foundation and Rees Jeffreys Road Fund also found that GDLs, in some form, internationally reduce collisions and trauma from collisions involving new drivers by 20-40%.
Cumbria’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, David Allen, said: “Passing your driver’s test as a seventeen-year-old is an incredibly exciting rite of passage. It’s also, in our rural county, something that is a necessity. However, getting behind the wheel of a car without an experienced driver is a massive responsibility.
“The careful introduction of graduated driver’s licences in England and Wales would reduce fatal collisions across the country – as evidenced in countries that have already adopted the scheme.
“Whilst I know that there would be some challenges to the GDL, which I fully appreciate, our goal is to keep our young children, young adults and those passing their tests for the first time safe and to keep them alive.
“Sharron is incredibly passionate about ensuring other parents, and young people, do not have to go through the unimaginable loss that she has experienced with losing her daughter.
“I was really pleased to meet with Sharron and I am 100% in support of the introduction of GDLs and will do what I can to help drive this at a local and national level.”
Sharron Huddleston said: “August is National Road Victim Month which was set up by Roadpeace the National Charity for Road Crash Victims - which aims at raising awareness of the staggering number of people killed and injured on UK roads.
“I am pleased to have met this month with Cumbria's Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, David Allen and I am very grateful to receive his full support for 'Caitlin's Campaign' which I founded in memory of my daughter, calling for a British Graduated Driving License system.
“The main cause of death to our younger generation is road crashes and these crashes mainly occur on rural roads. The combination of youth and inexperience, puts younger drivers at high risk in those first few critical months after passing their driving test.
“We need urgent and effective action from Government to introduce safety precautions in the form of a Graduated Driving Licensing system, to help reduce the devastating deaths and serious injuries of young people in road traffic collisions. The overwhelming evidence from other countries that a GDL system improves safety is compelling.
“Road crashes devastate families forever. Road crashes should not be just accepted and thought of as inevitable. I am determined to raise awareness to parents around the huge risks facing young drivers and their young passengers on our roads. Graduated Driving Licensing would see young drivers and their passengers so much better protected.”
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