Family of crash victim call for new driver restrictions

The family of a tragic car crash victim are urging the government to introduce new restrictions on drivers who have recently passed their test.

Relatives of Caitlin Huddleston, who was killed in an accident involving a newly-qualified driver, are calling for the introduction of a so-called graduation scheme for driving licences.

A graduation system would see newly-qualified drivers placed on a limited licence after passing their test, and could include restrictions on driving at night or with specific passengers.

Such schemes are already in place in Australia and New Zealand and earlier this year Prime Minister Theresa May directed the Department for Transport to explore their introduction in the UK.

Caitlin Huddleston, 18, was traveling in a Toyota Yaris driven by her friend, Skye Mitchell, also 18, when it was involved in a head-on collision with a Ford Transit van in July 2017.

READ MORE: Graduated licences for young drivers will ‘prevent loss of life’

Miss Huddleston and Miss Mitchell were both killed in the crash, which occurred on the A595 in Cumbria and left third passenger, Ellis Marr, and van driver Patrick Troll seriously injured.

Miss Mitchell had been driving for just four months when she lost control of her car and had never driven with the distraction of a car full of passengers at the time of the crash.

Following an inquest into the accident, the family of Miss Huddleston said they were supporting Brake’s campaign for graduated driving licences to help prevent further road deaths.

The only current restriction faced by newly-qualified drivers is losing their licence if they rack up six penalty points in their first two years of driving, compared to a limit of 12 for experienced drivers – but a graduated system would change that.

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The road safety charity, Brake, supports such measures. It said: “Brake recommends GDL as a vital, life-saving policy because young drivers in all countries are known to be at very high risk of serious and fatal crashes, and GDL helps to address this.

“This is down to many reasons, including young drivers’ overconfidence, lack of experience, and propensity for risk-taking.

“GDL addresses these by providing a minimum-length supervised learning period and limiting exposure to some of the highest risk situations, such as night-time driving, for newly qualified drivers.”

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