Dangerous driving in spotlight: instructor from Northumberland raises awareness and joins national campaign on learner driver abuse penalties

He has said that more protection is needed because some students have given up on driving due to the “aggressive behaviour”.

The man who runs the Andy Harding Driving School in the Choppington area is supporting the call by learner driver insurers Marmalade that says the Government should make disregard for the safety of drivers displaying an L-plate an aggravating factor in dangerous driving and careless driving offences.

The petition, which has now topped 9,600 signatures, follows its survey of more than 1,000 learner drivers and 400 driving instructors across the UK that revealed 81 per cent of learner drivers have experienced abuse and intimidation from other road users while driving.

Andy said: “Dangerous driving in the proximity of learners can really have a detrimental effect in more ways than one.

“Many of my students are young people and aggression on the roads can be extremely daunting when added to the stress of learning to drive a vehicle.

“I have posted videos and messages on social media in the past to highlight the issue and to make people aware that it isn’t nice to treat learners in such a way.

“All this receives is comments from trolls who do nothing but post their opinions about how we shouldn’t be on the road in the first place, forgetting they were once in that position.

“Other road users are quick to forget that there’s someone in that car that they’re hurling abuse at. Some students have anxiety when on the road and this doesn’t help to resolve that – I have lost students who completely gave up on driving due to this aggressive behaviour.

“Driving schools need more protection and so do the pupils. Threats from members of the public on a daily basis wouldn’t be acceptable in any other learning environment, so why is it on the roads?”

More than half (59 per cent) of the driving instructors surveyed said that the abuse has increased since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

To sign the petition, go to https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/617180 and for more information about the survey and background about why the petition was put forward, go to www.wearemarmalade.co.uk/driver-hub/news/dangerous-driving-around-learner-drivers