Britain weighs how to reduce car crashes

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LONDON, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Officials in Britain say they are considering measures to reduce vehicular accidents among young drivers, including banning non-family passengers.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin told The Daily Telegraph he was ready to look at measures that could reduce the number of accidents involving new drivers.

"I read regular reports where three or four young people have been killed in a car and it's a new driver and you wonder what happened. When I talk to young people who have recently passed their test what they say [is] sometimes there is peer pressure ... put on them to go fast, to show off," McLoughlin told the newspaper. "They are not anticipating an accident, but something goes wrong. They are not drivers with a huge amount of experience by the very fact of their being new drivers. I think we have got to look at that."

A report by the Association of British Insurers found 1-in-8 drivers was under 25, but they account for one-third of those killed on the country's roads.

The report estimated an 18-year-old driver was three times more likely to be involved in a crash than a motorist age 30 and older.

In 2011, drivers ages 17-19 were involved in 12,000 crashes of which more than half resulted in serious or fatal injuries, the report said.