Young Drivers at risk because they think extra tuition is a sign of weakness

The vast majority of young drivers are shunning the chance to improve their skills with advanced lessons despite figures which show extra tuition will keep them safer on the road or even save their lives.

Every day in the UK, 23 people under the age of 25 are killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents yet despite this, many see extra lessons as uncool.

Research from Young Marmalade says that there is an overwhelming attitude among Britain’s new young drivers that additional testing is a sign of weakness in front of their mates.

Young Marmalade – the UK’s leading supplier of affordable, high quality cars and insurance to young drivers - found out of the thousands of young drivers it has spoken to in the past year less than one in ten go on to take additional driving Tuition.

Further driving tuition is a prerequisite on Young Marmalade’s low cost insurance scheme for young drivers. Its research also shows that teenagers who have entered an advanced driving programme are three times less likely to have an accident then their less skilled friends.

“This is a big concern,” says Crispin Moger of Young Marmalade. “The general feeling is young drivers don’t want to look ‘sad’ in front of their mates. Feedback has been they think taking advanced lessons is like an admission of poor driving. This was especially evident in male drivers.”

Moger says this attitude is astonishing as young drivers should aspire to being the best. “All of the best professional drivers in the world would have had hours of advanced driving tuition,” adds Moger “driving is the same as any new skill, the more quality tuition you receive, the better you become.”

Confirming this trend is 18 year old Chris McGhee from Bolton. Chris – with the full support of his parents - decided to take advanced tuition after two close friends died in a car accident.

“I love driving and anything that helps me improve my skills is invaluable,” says Chris. “Losing people close to me just emphasised how important it is to gain as many skills as possible, not only for my safety but the safety of other road users.”

Young Marmalade visits a number of schools and colleges to discuss safe driving with students.

Disappointingly, Chris was the only student out of 600 in his sixth form college to take up the advanced driving course despite a visit from a Young Marmalade representative.

“There was a lot of talk around college about advanced driving not being the ‘done thing’,” adds Chris. “Most of my mates didn’t think they needed to do it. A few were interested because of the financial implications to their insurance but to be honest it’s not really about that.”

“Our research indicates that further driving tuition can improve road safety. If you couple that with having a top quality vehicle – which young drivers are more likely to take care of – than accident rates could be slashed even further,” says Moger