Keoghs recently met with Baroness Vere to discuss how to make the UK’s roads safer for young drivers.
As part of our 2020 priorities, Keoghs will be meeting a variety of parliamentarians, ministers and civil servants connected to road safety over the next year, with the aim of keeping young driver safety on the political agenda and building the momentum behind the issue. The first of these meetings took place recently, with a visit to the Department for Transport and Baroness Vere of Norbiton (re-appointed Roads Minister in the recent government reshuffle).
At the outset of the meeting, Keoghs provided an introduction on the issue and a run-down of our campaigning in this area to date, including our work with insurers, charities and other stakeholders, our previous discussions with the DfT and the briefing of multiple MPs that took place at the successful Parliamentary event last year.
We were also able to share with the Minister the merits of introducing some form of Graduated Driving Licence (GDL) in the UK, some examples of how they’ve been pursued by other countries, and the positive impact GDL has on young driver safety.
On behalf of the government, Baroness Vere outlined the research that is being done in this area, and how the government is seeking to gather evidence to determine its policy. The key piece of this research is the ongoing Driver 2020 project, which has recruited nearly 15,000 young and novice drivers.
It doesn’t stop with The Driver 2020 project – there will be analysis of all elements of road safety. Some of these will be restrictive in nature, but the government is also interested in incentives-based programmes which reward drivers for safe driving habits, such as telematics.
At the end of the meeting, we agreed to continue dialogue on the development of the policy area, and the ways in which Keoghs can continue to provide and facilitate the perspective of the insurance industry and other road safety stakeholders.
With the Transport Committee potentially bringing back its inquiry on young driver safety, and with a raft of new MPs elected to Parliament who may be interested, we expect the Ministerial meeting to be the first of many throughout the year. We’d encourage anyone with an interest and/or unique perspective on the topic to get in touch and share it with us!
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