Twice as many people die on rural roads as on urban ones, and inexperienced, reckless young drivers are one of the main reasons for the difference, a study has found.

The findings come as the Government prepares to publish proposals for restrictions on young drivers, including a much longer training period, tougher tests and possibly limits on how many passengers they can carry and on driving late at night.

The study commissioned by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) reveals that drivers aged 17 to 25 are twice as likely to have crashes causing death or serious injury on rural roads as those aged 60 and over.

Young drivers are twice as likely as the average motorist to be involved in serious crashes in which three or more car occupants are killed or injured.

Of the nine people killed on the roads on an average day in Britain, six die on rural roads. Per mile travelled, a driver is more than three times as likely to be killed on a rural road as on an urban one.

The findings suggest that road safety policy, which concentrates resources on reducing the risk on residential roads and high streets, is focusing on the wrong area.

The IAM report is based on casualty figures from 2000 to 2005, in which more than 20,000 people died on the roads and 200,000 were injured.

Men are far more likely than women to be involved in serious crashes on rural roads. Men account for 72 per cent of car occupants killed or seriously injured, 66 per cent of pedestrians, 85 per cent of cyclists and 95 per cent of motorcyclists.

The report shows that pedestrians who ignore the Highway Code by walking with their backs to the traffic — rather than facing it — double their risk of being killed or injured.

The report challenges the perception that the risk is much higher at night and in the rain. Two thirds of deaths on rural roads happen during the day in fine weather.

Half of all deaths occur on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, probably because of urban drivers going into the countryside on unfamiliar roads. The most marked contrast is in Wales, where there are 50 per cent more deaths on Sundays than weekdays. The findings also lend support to the campaign by road safety groups to reduce the default 60mph limit on rural roads. Three quarters of serious crashes in rural areas occur on 60mph and 70mph roads.

Neil Greig, the director of the IAM Motoring Trust, said that the Government should set targets for reducing rural road deaths.

“Rural authorities have smaller populations and less political power to force the necessary improvements to their longer road networks,” he said.

“An imminent government consultation on revised driver training and testing is — literally — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to equip drivers and riders to cope with rural dangers.”

Brake, the road safety charity, called for a late-night curfew for novice drivers and restrictions on carrying young passengers.

A spokesman said: “Too many drivers — particularly younger drivers — treat rural roads like personal race tracks, frequently leading to horrific crashes with multiple victims. The Government must take action to tackle this carnage. We need high-profile campaigns on the importance of slowing down on rural roads and speed limits lowered where roads are winding and narrow or pass by houses.”

The number of insurance claims made by drivers aged 18 to 23 dropped by 30 per cent when they signed up to a Norwich Union pay-by-the-mile policy that charged them a much higher rate for driving late at night.

The Department for Transport said that it was likely to publish a consultation document on reforms to driver training early in the new year.