THINK! LAUNCHES NEW CAMPAIGN URGUING YOUNG MEN NOT TO SPEED WHEN ON ESSENTIAL JOURNEYS

• Winter warning for young drivers to avoid the sharp increase in the proportion of cars speeding seen during the first national lockdown.

• In 2019, speeding, driving too fast for the conditions or being careless, reckless or in a hurry were factors in almost half of road deaths and serious accidents involving male drivers aged 17-24

• The THINK! ‘Be the mate who won’t speed’ campaign targets young male drivers, who are over-represented in industries where they need to travel for work in lockdown.

A sharp increase in the proportion of cars speeding seen during the UK’s first national lockdown has prompted a new THINK! campaign urging young drivers on essential journeys to ‘be the mate who won’t speed’ to keep themselves and others safe on the road, and help reduce pressure on the NHS.

The latest speeding compliance statistics, taken when the country was out of lockdown during the summer show speeding compliance returning to 2019 levels, but with lockdown restrictions back in place there are concerns that speeding could creep back up to peak levels as drivers take advantage of quieter roads.

Road casualty data highlights the risks of careless driving even with fewer cars on the road, with 40% of road deaths and serious injuries among 17-24 year-old men resulting from single-vehicle accidents. The new THINK! campaign encourages young drivers to watch their speed in a bid to reduce the number of young people killed and seriously injured on the roads.

Darker mornings and evenings, and lower temperatures, during the current national lockdown make winter conditions particularly treacherous and the THINK! campaign urges drivers to rethink the excuses they make for speeding – such as being in a hurry or driving on roads they think they know well. According to black box insurer insurethebox, drivers are more likely to have an accident in the winter than summer with the increase in accidents amongst men double (13.7%) the increase in accidents among women (6.2%) , raising concerns that men are more likely to overestimate their driving ability in bad weather conditions.

Government research reveals that male drivers aged 17-24 are more likely to demonstrate risky behaviours and attitudes compared to the general population, and admit to driving faster on roads they are familiar with or when they are in a hurry.

Worryingly, only 38% of men aged 17-24 believe it to be very risky to drive too fast on a country road (compared with 62% for general population) and only 14% consider it very risky to exceed the speed limit (42% for general population)