The study, conducted by the TRL – The Future of Transport Group – suggests GDL regulations would pose a minimal impact on new drivers while vastly improving their safety. 

GDL seeks to impose limitations on newly qualified drivers, many of whom are young, to encourage steady progress and experience in the critical few months that follow their test.

These limitations, typically target known risk situations, include a ban on driving in the dark and carrying peer-age passengers.

Other countries such as Canada, the USA, Australia and New Zealand have introduced GDL rules on their roads. The UK meanwhile, voted against implementing GDL back in 2020. 

This decision however could be about to change as the Government continues to look at ways to protect younger drivers. Gov.uk numbers show that while 17 to 24-year-olds make up only 7% of drivers, they are involved in 20% of serious and fatal road accidents.

International evidence shows that GDL can reduce collisions and trauma from collisions involving young drivers by 20-40%. Authors of the TRL study concluded that implementing GDL restrictions would not cause an adverse impact on young drivers, reasoning that:

“This is because all stakeholders (new drivers, and their friends and families; employers; and service providers) were found to adapt to restrictions, with evidence showing that exemptions and changes in travel patterns help people to maintain the most important elements of their mobility, while still benefitting from well-evidenced improvements in safety.”

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “Rather than limiting young people’s life chances, GDL is all about ensuring they can seize them safely. Immediately after young people pass their driving tests they are at the point of greatest risk, but the evidence from overseas is that a framework of minimal restrictions and exemptions would enable these new drivers to access a world of opportunity in the safest possible way for themselves and other road users.”

Read another one of our blog posts and stay up to date with the latest in road safety news. If you’re looking for a free road marking quote, click here.

Motorists will be advised to avoid driving too close to the animals, which roam freely throughout New Forest in Hampshire, as well as Exmoor and Dartmoor in Devon.

The change was requested by The British Horse Society and is welcomed by campaigners in the New Forest who have long called for measures to help reduce animal road deaths. The council has also backed petitions for speed cameras to be installed to combat this issue in the national park.

The current advice in the Highway Code states that road users should slow down to 10mph while passing a horse on the road and leave at least a two-metre gap.

The latest regulation will be included following an 18-month review of the code, with the final version due to be finalised on the 29th of January 2022. The Department for Transport said: “We agreed such wild animals are more prevalent in those areas which warranted a specific mention”.

The new advice states “Feral or semi-feral ponies which are found in areas such as the New Forest, Exmoor or Dartmoor require the same consideration as ridden horses when approaching or passing”. 

Gilly Jones, of the New Forest Roads Awareness group, said she was “extremely pleased” at the addition to the Highway Code. “It’s certainly a first – it’s still about raising the awareness of feral and semi-feral ponies and it’s very positive what we can achieve with agencies working together.

“We’re still getting a horrific number of speeding drivers who lack a basic knowledge about driving in the forest”, she continued.

To stay up-to-date with the latest road safety news, read the Anglo Liners blog. Alternatively, click here for a free road marking quote.