Unlicensed Driving Problem

Unlicensed driving has become a major concern nowadays. It is possible that drivers not having appropriate training and testing may be deficient in some aspect of the knowledge and skills required to drive safely and efficiently. Also, drivers who are unauthorized may have less incentive to comply with road traffic laws in that they would not be influenced by the rewards and penalties set up under the licensing system. On this argument, drivers who do not hold a valid license may disregard the threat of license sanctions or the benefits of reduced insurance premium due to not having made a claim. It is noticeable in the literature that the term “unlicensed” is used interchangeably to mean one of the below subcategories, as follows:

• Drivers who drive but who have never possessed any form of license;
• Drivers who have previously held a license but who have been disqualified; and
• Drivers possessing only a provisional license but whom, nevertheless, drive unaccompanied.

For many unlicensed drivers, enforcement and penalties are not strong deterrents and in addition there are also administrative loopholes which some exploit. There appears to be a general laxity in the system of checking the validity of documents and their ownership – for example it is claimed to be straightforward for an unlicensed driver to pass himself off as a friend (with a license) and later present the friend’s documents at a police station.

According to a survey by the AA Foundation for approximately half of all drunken driving takes place with drivers who do not have a valid driving license (Goldberg, 1997). Also in Sweden, unlicensed driving has been estimated as the cause of 100 deaths and 2500 injuries per year at a cost of more than one billion US dollars. In the USA, in 1995, more than 10,000 lives were lost in fatal accidents with unlicensed drunk drivers (approximately a quarter of all road deaths in that year). The equivalent figure in Great Britain would therefore be over 900 deaths if this rate prevailed.

An in-built system in an automobile which prevents such cases has therefore become vital.