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Young drivers overestimate their road skills

Thu, 16 Mar 2006

Many drivers wrongly assume their driving on UK roads is safe, claims a new study.

A new study by Brake found that 96 per cent of 1,009 drivers believe that they always drive safely and that it is other motorists who are at fault. However, this could mean many motorists, especially Young Drivers, could be wrongly overestimating their driving capabilities.

Academics at Napier University believe that young make drivers are more likely to take dangerous risks, such as speeding, blind overtaking and tailgating, yet do not consider their driving actions to be creating a serious risk to other road users.

Mary Williams, chief executive of Brake, said: "It is paramount that drivers, particularly over-confident drivers who are often men, frankly reassess their own ability and acknowledge the risks that they pose to themselves and other road users and stop taking those risks that can so easily and so frequently cost a life."

Brake is now calling on the government to do more to force Young Drivers to examine their own driving habits and decrease the number of accidents caused by reckless driving.


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