Inverness parents back call by Highland MSP David Stewart for Graduated Driving Licence
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MSP David Stewart wants restrictions to be placed on the conditions in which new drivers can get behind the wheel.
The Highlands and Islands Labour member is this week submitting evidence to a road safety inquiry being undertaken by the Transport Select Committee at Westminster.
He wants to see the introduction of some form of graduated driving licence (GDL) that he says would better protect young and new drivers.
He is being backed by Inverness couple Graham and Diane Matheson whose son Callum, then 18, was killed in a crash in the city’s Island Bank Road in 2010.
The driver of the vehicle he was a passenger in, Ahlee Jackson (17), also died.
Mr Stewart said: “I have long campaigned for some form of GDL to be brought in because all the evidence says it will help to reduce the heart-breaking loss of young lives on our roads. It minimises the risks by restricting new drivers’ exposure to the conditions in which they are statistically most likely to crash, which is at night or while driving with their friends in the car. No-one is saying young drivers are bad drivers or ‘boy racers’. All I’m saying is, the evidence clearly shows gaining more experience before getting a full-fledged licence reduces the number of young drivers being killed on our roads.”
Mr Stewart said exemptions could be made for drivers travelling to or from work or college, with police taking a “commonsense” approach to enforcement.
Mrs Matheson said: “Evidence has shown the reduction in deaths to be significant.
“Any parent who has lost a child in a car accident would support this, as would any parent who has a child wanting to learn to drive. Callum should be 27 now and not a day goes by that we don’t wonder what life would have had in store for him.”
