Recent (2003/04/05) research has now shown that the part of the brain used not only for risk appraisal but also for some of the cognitive functions that govern driving skill do not fully develop in people until around the age of 25, and this is the major factor in such a high level of serious and fatal crashes involving young drivers.

The younger a person is, when they start to drive, the more likely they are to have a serious crash within the first year of driving alone.

These already serious risks are made even worse by a young driver carrying equally young passengers (the bigger the number the bigger the risk) and by driving at night.

Graduated driver licensing is helping to address these dangers but if parents hold back their sons and daughters for one or even two years, before letting them drive, and also make sure that their offspring don't travel as passengers with other young drivers, then a lot less young lives will be needlessly