Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast

10 June 2013

A new study, Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast, Understanding the risks of living and driving in the countryside produced by Road Safety Analysis (RSA) and funded by RoadSafe sponsor Michelin Tyre PLC and the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund has revealed young rural drivers are almost twice as likely to be involved in a collision than young urban drivers. The study whic is available here shows that where young people live and learn to drive can make a worrying difference to their risk factor with young rural drivers 44% more likely to be involved in an injury-causing collision.

Previous research by Road Safety Analysis identified that 16 to 29 year old rural young drivers were 37% more likely to be involved in an injury collision than their urban counterparts. This report extends that research by using collision data to compare the factors identified in incidents involving rural young drivers; urban young drivers; rural adult drivers; and urban adult drivers, with a view to determining why rural young drivers are at higher risk. By refining the age group to 17 to 26 years old, it has shown that rural young drivers are 44% more likely to be involved in an injury collision than their urban counterparts.

The research found that many of the attributes of young driver collisions are far more over-represented amongst rural young drivers than urban young drivers.