They may feel invincible, but one in five new Scots drivers crashes in their first year behind the wheel. What will it take to keep them safe? Kirsty Roarty finds out

PRIVATELY, young drivers are referred to as “Captain Invincibles” by road safety experts because of their fearlessness when they get behind the wheel. Michael McDonnell, director of Road Safety Scotland, says many young drivers
have yet to experience death in their lives and that, coupled with the enthusiasm of youth, sees them fail to grasp the concept of their own mortality.
Yet one in five new drivers in Scotland is likely to crash in their first year of driving. In the first half of 2007, one in three fatal accidents on Scotland’s roads involved someone under the age of 25.
“Principally, there are two factors at play here, ‘youngness’ and ‘noviceness’, which are more commonly referred to as age and experience,” explains Michael, who has been working within road safety since 1982.
“The effects of both are what lead to young people being more crash-involved. Indeed, when you look at road fatalities, they can be as much as eight times over-represented.
“One way of looking at it is that young drivers are not the problem; rather they have the problem.”
This is something former Scottish driving ace John Cleland understands. The double British Touring Cars champ was renowned for driving skilfully at speed, but the pro still insisted his 18-year-old daughter Jordan took an advanced driving course at the Knockhill race circuit in Fife, to make her aware of the potential dangers.
“I had always said to her that I wanted her to take part in the advanced driver training once she had passed her test,” says John. “Although she knew how to drive she wasn’t aware of how to deal with situations that would be covered in the course because you don’t get any of that in your driving test.”
John has backed the call to put the brakes on young drivers and halt potentially fatal mistakes on the road, and believes a more wide-ranging driving test would help save lives.
“The driving test 17-year-old kids get is a joke. They never see a motorway because they’re not allowed, many of them won’t see a dual carriageway and they never drive above 50mph and are most certainly not able to drive in inclement road conditions.
“They need to understand what a car is all about, what it is capable of and what it can do. When they get a licence they immediately go out, driving 20, 30 or 40mph faster than they had up to that point on roads they have never see before,” he says.
“I personally think we’ve only got ourselves to blame when 17 or 19-year-old kids kill themselves on the road. If we could train them a little bit more I think it would save the lives of young children.”
In practice, inexperience means those who have recently ditched the L-plates aren’t as good at detecting and anticipating hazards, but many are overconfident in their abilities.
Michael said: “While the potentially fatal consequences of bad driving behaviour are known to them (young drivers), and they accept it is the worst that can happen, they believe they are better drivers than most and that, coupled with quick reactions, will get them out of any situation. In some ways, the biggest hurdle we have to overcome is the belief that ‘It won’t happen to me’. Statistics show that it very often does.”
Unfortunately, the figures do speak for themselves, especially when it comes to accidents on country roads. Almost three-quarters (74%) of fatal crashes in Scotland take place on rural roads, and a third of the deaths and serious injuries on these roads involve young drivers, despite the fact they only make up 5% of UK licence-holders.
The Knockhill training course involves on-road assessments on all road types – rural to motorways. The Fife circuit is no stranger to fast driving, but under controlled conditions at the hands of experts, who pass on their invaluable knowledge.
Advanced driving instructor Alan Gordon says: “Although we will never stop people from crashing or make everyone do the right thing at the right time, what we are aiming to do is give that extra bit of information that they can call upon; and it might save them a couple of feet, a bump or a big accident. It’s an extra insurance policy, there to be used when you get into that situation.”
One young driver who’d be keen to take part in such a course is 20-year-old Sean Patterson, from Edinburgh. A month after gaining his licence, the apprentice joiner says he’s confident in his ability but wouldn’t consider exceeding the speed limit.
“The image of the boy racer is unfair,” insists Sean, “especially in how it affects insurance premiums, which are much lower for females. I don’t consider myself to be one of the boy racers who wants to drive fast – I’m very safety-conscious.”
Most high-profile campaigns, such as anti-drink-drive messages on Tesco trucks or cinema adverts addressing speeding are aimed at young males.
Sergeant Derek Prentice, who heads Strathclyde Police’s Road Safety Unit and who will be holding a young driver experience day, similar to the advanced driving course at Knockhill, at the force’s training centre at Jackton, near East Kilbride, next year as part of the ongoing Drive 4 Safety campaign, says: “It’s about attitude: there is a proportion of young drivers, particularly young males, who think it won’t happen to them and that they’ve got to show off to their friends by speeding.”
But Michael insists: “It is not our intention to paint them [young males] as villains – and the insurance industry would back me up here too – it’s just that they are more crash-involved. Recently, however, there has been some ‘catching-up’ done by females, as a number are beginning to exhibit the same traits as their male counterparts.” 
Anne Ross from Lenzie cannot disagree. The 19-year-old was caught speeding twice and, after racking up six points in the first two years of having her licence, was forced to resit her test. “I was stupid,” she says flatly. “I wasn’t showing off, I just thought I was in control and maybe over-zealous. Suddenly I had a car and freedom, it felt empowering and that was reflected in my speed.”
Just months after passing her test, police caught Anne speeding in her Renault Clio on her way home from work. On the second occasion, she was clocked doing 63mph on the motorway when the speed limit was only 50.
“I had collected a couple of friends at about 8.30pm and we were heading into town to catch a film,” says Anne. “It’s easy to forget the speed limit when you are chatting away in the car with friends. It sounds like an excuse but for me it was two simple instances of losing my concentration and in a way getting too comfortable behind the wheel.
“Having to tell my parents that I had been caught speeding, not once but twice, was horrible – they were disappointed in me – and I felt ashamed. My dad read me the riot act to be honest, and I deserved it. He told me I could have killed myself, friends or an innocent person all through thoughtlessness. That brought it home; losing your concentration can have disastrous consequences. It also cost me a small fortune to resit my test, which on a clerical officer’s wage was not easy.
“It’s embarrassing that people will read this and perhaps judge me, but if one person can learn from my mistakes then I’ll be glad. I hope people realise that when we do stupid things in a car, there will more than likely be repercussions.”
Sergeant Prentice also has a poignant message for young people taking to the roads: “Ultimately, what the police want to get across is: pay attention, don’t take unnecessary risks or be distracted in a vehicle, and drive to your capabilities.
“On numerous occasions, I’ve had to attend tragedies and the hard part for police officers is going to tell the next of kin after we’ve attended a smash in which a young person has been killed – it’s very difficult to tell the parents.”
How many of those young drivers would have believed it wouldn’t happen to them, yet tragically, it did?