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This iCar project aims to primarily raise awareness of the dangers faced by young drivers and their passengers.

Within the Humber region young people account for 31% of all injury collisions and 27% of all casualties.

Safer Roads Humber has identified young people, particularly young drivers as being one of their three top priority groups.

Driver statistics

Young car drivers pose a significant road safety issue in the United Kingdom. The following is a summary of some national statistics:

• Young drivers are involved in a disproportionately large number of road collisions: 17 to 24 year olds have 9% of the driving licences but comprise 22% of car drivers involved in road collisions that result in death or injury on the roads of Great Britain.

• 27% of 17-19 year old males are involved in a road collision in their first year of driving.

• 1,077 people died in 2005 in crashes involving a driver aged 17-25 years (of whom 377 were drivers aged 17-25).

• The roads kill more young men than cancer or suicide.

• For young men, the highest risk of death on the road is as a driver or rider.

• For young women, the highest risk of death on the road is a vehicle passenger.

• Loss of control on bends and collisions in the dark are a problem with 17-19 year olds whilst rear end shunt collisions are more common with 23-25 year olds.

• Attitudinal factors are at least as important as skills factors with this group.

• Drivers aged 16-19 years old were over 20 times more likely to have caused a fatal crash than they were to have been innocently involved.

Inexperience and attitude

The national picture shows that young drivers can have a higher propensity to be involved in road collisions because of two factors: Inexperience and Attitude

There has been extensive research into the issue of inexperience and hazard perception, which highlight how reactions to hazards improve with driving experience and therefore newer drivers are slower to respond to such hazards.

There can also be a tendency for young drivers to have attitudinal issues whilst driving – various studies and focus groups show that young drivers are more likely to react to peer pressure and 'show off' whilst driving, for example, by speeding, not wearing a seat belt and taking other risks.

The combination of inexperience and attitude produce a significant road safety problem

Analysis of collisions in Humberside show that some of the most common reasons that these crashes occur are due to young drivers:

• Failing to look properly

• Being inexperienced

• Being careless, reckless or in a hurry

• Losing control; travelling too fast for the conditions

• And/or being impaired by alcohol