Can teaching 11-year-olds to drive improve the UK's road safety record?

Nearly one in three car drivers who die or are seriously injured on UK roads are under the age of 25. Male drivers under the age of 21 are ten times as likely to be involved in an accident as male drivers over 35.

The debate about how to reduce these statistics is polarised. Some suggest that the solution is to allow youngsters to learn driving skills at an earlier age. Many, including RoSPA and the Police Federation of England and Wales, have expressed serious reservations. There is a longstanding campaign to raise the legal driving age from 17 to 18.

Road Safety GB has praised schemes that allow youngsters to learn and 'experiment' in a controlled environment away from our roads. And the Swedish Young Drivers initiative seemed to reduce accident rates by 40 per cent in the first year among drivers who started driving 18 months earlier, at 16.

Now, following initiatives from Admiral, Seat UK and others, and a fleet of MINI Ones already supplied to the MINI Drivers @ Goodwood programme, MINI and Jonathan Palmer’s MotorSport Vision are teaming up to supply a fleet of cars in their YoungDrive programme.

The scheme offers children as young as 11 years old (and a minimum of 4' 8" tall) the chance to have their first taste of motoring in dual-controlled MINI Ones at Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and Bedford Autodrome. DSA-approved instructors will teach young drivers essential skills in a traffic-free environment to prepare them for hitting the roads for real when they're old enough.

The jury’s still out on the best way to cut those alarming stats on young drivers' accidents. But solid experience, gathered responsibly in this way, must surely be a good input to our thinking.