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Thousands of drivers in the UK could be banned from driving between 11am and 5pm

New laws, that are already in place in Canada, New Zealand and Northern Ireland, could place a curfew on certain British drivers

India Lawrence
Written by
India Lawrence
Staff Writer, UK
Car with an L plate
Photograph: Shutterstock
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If young Brits didn’t already have it bad enough, some people want them to be banned from driving at night under new driving licence laws. 

Young drivers could also be forbidden from carrying other passengers their own age for a whole year after getting their licence. That means no more ‘doing lifts’ and ferrying your drunk mates home from nights out. 

Campaigners are demanding for reforms to driving licence laws, which could see the introduction of a ‘Graduated Driving Licence’, placing restrictions on new drivers under the age of 25. The likes of these rules are in already place in Canada, New Zealand and Northern Ireland. 

Alison Lowe, West Yorkshire’s deputy mayor for policing and crime, is asking the government to bring in these licences that would place curfews on young people on the roads. 

According to government data from 2023, young car drivers are involved in a quarter of all fatal collision cases, with 1,417 young UK drivers involved in serious or fatal accidents each year. In total, 4,959 people were killed or seriously injured in 2023 as a result of collisions involving young drivers. 

The campaign group, which is made up of families who have been bereaved by road accidents, said: ‘The ongoing impact and devastation of the death of a loved one in these circumstances cannot adequately be put into words.

‘We want to do everything in our power to prevent it from happening to anyone else. Graduated Driving Licences offer one such opportunity, backing their introduction is an easy decision.’

Are these restrictive licences actually going to come in? It doesn’t seem likely right now. A spokesperson for the Department for Transport (DfT) said: ‘Every death on our roads is a tragedy and our thoughts remain with the families of everyone who has lost a loved one in this way.’

They added: ‘Whilst we are not considering Graduated Driving Licences, we absolutely recognise that young people are disproportionately victims of tragic incidents on our roads.

‘We are exploring options to tackle the root causes of this without unfairly penalising young drivers.’

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