Four in ten new young drivers admit they are unsafe on the road while 47% think they’re not being taught enough about road safety according to a new report released today.

Young drivers think making routine safety checks a part of the driving test will help with road safety

Four in ten new young drivers admit they are unsafe on the road while 47% think they’re not being taught enough about road safety according to a new report released today.

The research of 1,000 UK motorists aged 17 to 24, carried out as part of Continentals Vision Zero campaign for improved road safety, found that 50% of young motorists would not know where to start with basics like checking their tyres.

Less than half of young road users know what the legal tyre tread limit is and one in five have no idea what solution, such as a spare tyre, they have available in an event of a puncture.

Mark Griffiths, safety expert at Continental Tyres, said: “Every day in the UK, around nine people die or are seriously injured from a road accident that involves a young car driver. It is vital for 17 to 24 year olds to receive adequate road safety information as they learn to drive, setting them up for a lifetime of safe motoring.”

Respondents also identified top solutions for improving their safety and that of others are better education (70%), more enforcement such as harsher penalties (38%) and making routine safety checks a feature of the driving test (36%).