Motoring penalty system 'focused on new drivers'

The penalty system in the UK is designed to focus on catching new drivers that commit motoring offences.

This is the view of head of road safety at the AA Andrew Howard who noted that motorists can lose their licence if they accrue six penalty points within their first two years of being on the road.

After this period drivers have to get 12 points within three years in order to be disqualified and Mr Howard said that idea is to get drivers to focus on "not driving dangerously or carelessly".

He commented that this "gets around" the need to introduce ideas such as limiting the amount of passengers new drivers can carry or the times of day that they are allowed on the road.

Mr Howard also observed that the amount of money that can be spend on enforcing good driving has fallen in recent years, due to more resources being spent on issues such as terrorism.

He was commenting after the Co-operative Insurance and Brake published research showing that 30 per cent of young drivers have admitted to driving illegally and recklessly. ADNFCR-2353-ID-19471888-ADNFCR

20/11/2009 12:29

News category:

Return to News