Young 'unaware of driving risks'

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Many young people do not know how dangerous roads are for inexperienced motorists, a survey suggests.

Some 32% thought that one in 40 drivers killed were aged under 25 and 5% thought it was one in 400, when the figure is actually 25% of deaths.

The study also found that 22% of 15 to 25-year-olds had been involved in an accident with a young person driving.

The survey of 6,340 people was conducted for road safety charity Brake and delivery company FedEx.

'Deeply concerned'

Nearly one in five of the young people polled said they had had a crash while driving.

Brake's head of education Jools Townsend said the organisation was "deeply concerned" at the results of the survey.

"Many take driving for granted and find it hard to contemplate the horrific consequences of speeding, drink-driving or not belting up," she said.

"On the other hand, the government is all too aware of the disproportionate number of young people dying on the road."

Brake called for compulsory road safety education in schools, a shake-up of the way people learn to drive and powerful advertising aimed at young motorists.