The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) is calling on the government to make driving on rural A-roads a mandatory part of the driving test after research showed that 82 per cent of rural fatal and serious casualties are on single carriageway roads compared with just 18 per cent on motorways and dual carriageway roads.
The findings, uncovered as part of the IAM's 'The fast and curious' report showed that new drivers find themselves unprepared for real life scenarios and would welcome extra help above and beyond the core skills taught during driving lessons.
"More than half the cars on our roads are rated as four or five stars in European safety tests. But the roads where drivers, especially young drivers, are most frequently killed and injured are still not consistently part of the driving test," said IAM chief executive Simon Best,
"Driver and rider error is a contributory factor in two thirds of accidents. We can only improve our cars and roads so far. The challenge now is to improve the humans that drive them, to continue our outstanding record of road safety."
The IAM has written to the road safety minister to outline its views on how it believes the government should tackle deaths and accidents on our roads. This starts with improving the driving test to include training on single-carriageway rural A-roads.
Paul Healy - 23 Jan 2012