Supporting your young driver: A parents guide to safety skills and change
Learning to drive is exciting — but it also comes with real risks. As a parent, your support, guidance and understanding of road safety can make a life-saving difference.
Why young driver safety matters
Young and newly qualified drivers remain one of the highest-risk groups on UK roads:
Around one in five drivers crash within the first year after passing their test.
Young drivers (aged 17–24) are four times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash than drivers aged 25 and over.
In recent years, incidents involving at least one younger car driver have accounted for roughly 20–24% of all killed or seriously injured (KSI) road casualties, even though this age group makes up just ~7% of licence holders.
Passengers of similar age further increase risk — peer pressure and risky behaviours contribute significantly to young driver collisions.
Why Rushing the Driving Test Can Increase Risk
It’s natural for parents to want their child to pass quickly — lessons are expensive, and independence feels important. However, road safety experts, the DVSA and bereaved families all highlight a crucial point:
The driving test is a minimum standard — not proof of real-world readiness.
The Hidden Risk of “Passing Quickly”
When learners are rushed:
They may pass with limited experience of night driving, bad weather, rural roads or busy urban traffic.
They often lack exposure to independent decision-making, which is where many serious crashes occur.
Confidence can develop faster than competence — a known risk factor for young drivers.
Parents play a vital role in reinforcing this mindset.
Learning to Drive Is a Process, Not a Race
Safe driving develops over time through:
Repetition
Variety of driving conditions
Reflection on mistakes
Gradual independence
Many road safety charities stress that longer learning periods with varied practice reduce collision risk after passing. Allowing the learning process to take as long as needed helps young drivers:
Build calm decision-making
Manage pressure and distraction
Develop hazard awareness beyond test routes
Encouraging patience now can prevent devastating consequences later.
What Parents Can Do Instead of Pushing for a Quick Pass
focus on experience, not test dates
Rather than asking “When will you book your test?”, ask:
“Have you driven in the dark yet?”
“How confident do you feel on faster roads?”
“What situations still feel uncomfortable?”
This aligns directly with DVSA guidance and the Ready to Pass? self-assessment tools.
support ongoing practice
Private practice between lessons — when done safely and legally — allows young drivers to gain real-world exposure without test pressure.
This experience is often what makes the difference between coping and panicking after passing.
normalise taking more time
Help your child understand that:
Taking longer does not mean failing
Many safe drivers took extended learning journeys
Confidence built slowly is more reliable than confidence built quickly
Top Tips for Parents: Helping Young Drivers Stay Safe
promote good habits early
Lead by example. Your driving behaviour shapes theirs — from speed choice and signalling to hazard awareness and calm decision-making.
Reinforce what they are learning in lessons. Support hazard perception, observation skills and patience in traffic.
stay involved throughout learning
Even after your teenager passes the driving test, stay engaged:
Ask about situations that made them uneasy and discuss how they might approach them differently next time.
Encourage practises like defensive driving, planning routes before driving, and avoiding distractions.
use dvsa approved resources
The UK Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) offers guidance to help supervise and support learner drivers. Make sure you’re confident in the official rules for supervising learners and use resources such as practice trackers and hazard-perception tools.
(For the latest supervising guidance and campaign materials such as the Ready to Pass? programme, visit the DVSA’s resources on helping learner drivers — including supervising rights and responsibilities.)
What Charities and Campaigners Say
RoadPeace: A Voice for Road Victims
RoadPeace — the UK’s national charity for road crash victims — has long advocated for better protection for young drivers. They highlight that successive governments have been urged to adopt Graduated Driving Licensing (GDL) — a system proven abroad to reduce young driver crashes — but have not yet acted.
In open letters and advocacy, RoadPeace leaders have said that families who have lost young loved ones are “deeply disappointed” that evidence for GDL has been ignored, and that it’s time to prioritise life-saving changes.
Forget-me-not Families Uniting: Turning Grief into Advocacy
Forget-me-not Families Uniting is a campaign group made up of bereaved families whose children were killed in crashes involving young drivers. They call for urgent action to reduce deaths and serious injuries among novice drivers.
“Enough is enough! How many more young people need to die before action is taken?” — Sharron Huddleston, campaigner with Forget-me-not Families Uniting.
Their message reflects a deep frustration that, despite clear evidence from around the world that systems like Graduated Driving Licensing can reduce harm by 20–40%, the UK has yet to adopt similar laws.
These families emphasise that support and education alone won’t fully protect young drivers — licensing systems should reflect the elevated risk and build experience more gradually.
Click on the images below to find out more from the charities
One of the best online resources parents can use to support a young driver is the Protect Young Drivers website at https://www.protectyoungdrivers.com. This evidence-based national hub brings together clear facts, research and practical information about the risks young drivers face and how families, educators and communities can respond.
