Britain has a good record in making roads safer. There are, for example, a third fewer fatalities today than there were in 1995.

But beneath that headline figure is one statistic that has shaken ministers out of what road campaigners believe had become a worrying complacency. Ten years ago there were 13.8 deaths for every 100,000 drivers aged between 17 and 20; in 2005 that rate had climbed to 19.2.

Five years ago the Department for Transport quietly commissioned research into the effects of a 12-month training period for new drivers. Despite startling benefits — a projected 1,000 lives saved each year — ministers shelved the plan. Instead they chose to spend money on a series of shocking advertisements intended to reach the small minority of teenagers whose behaviour behind the wheel risks their own lives and others’.

And yet each month brings tragedy. When four teenage girls died in Wales last October in an accident on an icy road, a 17-year-old driver involved had passed his test three days previously.

The case for changing the length and rigour of driver training had been accepted in the department before Gordon Brown took over at No 10. Stephen Ladyman, who was Roads Minister in the Blair Government, told MPs that the system needed to be “fundamentally reformed”. His successor, Jim Fitzpatrick, is more cautious but is believed to agree that it is time to take action.

The 12-month minimum training period will be part of a consultation to begin this autumn, together with proposals for a probationary period.

A senior figure at the department told The Times: “It’s clear that we have to do something. The shocking adverts worked up to a point but the effects are beginning to trail off. We need to make it very clear to young people that driving carries huge responsibilities.”

Road toll

— 188,660 17-year-olds passed the practical driving test in 2005-06

— One in eight driving-licence holders is under 25, yet one in three drivers who dies in a collision is under 25, and almost one in two drivers killed at night is under 25

— 18 per cent of all new drivers were involved in at least one crash within a year. This falls to 13 per cent in the second year

— Young drivers in fatal collisions, especially under 20, are nearly 12 times more likely to have been at fault than those aged 35-65

— 38,800 people are killed or injured each year in collisions involving at least one driver with less than two years’ post-test experience

— Women have a lower pass rate than men (35.8 per cent to 47.8 per cent) but in 2005 276 female teenage drivers died while the toll for males aged 17 to 19 was 869

Source: House of Commons Transport Committee Seventh Report, Novice Drivers.