A major conference investigating how to cut the toll of death and injury involving young drivers has been staged by the Lancashire Telegraph.

Some 150 people including MPs, business leaders, young people, emergency workers, road safety experts and bereaved families attended the event.

It was organised by the newspaper as part of its Wasted Lives campaign along with the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety.

The campaign came about after figures revealed that every day across the UK four people are seriously injured or killed in accidents involving drivers aged under 25.

It calls for wide-ranging learner driver reforms for the under-25s as well as sweeping educational initiatives and the event hosted a discussion on these objectives.

The campaign also wants to raise the driving age to 18, include a specified number of hours under a graduated licence scheme, impose heavy restrictions on the under 25s for the carrying of young passengers and also on engine size for learners.

Blackburn MP and Justice Minister Jack Straw pledged to return to the issue with Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly and the Prime Minister.

He pledged there would be “changes to the law”.

He added: “I assure you we are going to take action.”

The event also saw the premiere of the Missing Matthew DVD, which tells the story of the Hannon family, who lost their 22-year-old son in a crash after he raced a friend along a Blackburn road.

More information, including a full set of campaign aims, can be read at
www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk.