Road safety watchdogs have identified three main reasons why young people are statistically more likely to be killed in road accidents.

A new study by West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership has revealed by 2005 44 per cent of male and 38 per cent of female drivers killed on the county's roads were under 30.

In the same period 75 per cent of all male passengers killed and 44 per cent of female fatalities were also in that age group.

The three reasons the partnership has given for the continuing toll among young drivers and their passengers are: l an increase in fatalities caused by drink-driving l a substantial number of instances of unlicensed, unqualified and illegal driving l a low rate of seatbelt use, particularly among passengers at night.

According to the figures, the ratio of dead male drink drivers to women is nine to one, while men aged 20 to 24 have the highest breath test failure.

The partnership has found that 35 per cent of young passengers killed in road crashes between 10pm and 2am had not been wearing seatbelts.

According to the figures studied, unlicensed drivers were also a real threat on the roads - a driver without a licence is more likely to have no insurance and to drive while drunk or having taken drugs.

Their risk of being in a crash is up to nine times greater than the average.

The partnership has called for more police on the streets to tackle the problem.

Chairman Steve Thornton said: "The perception of the chance of being caught must rise to become an effective deterrent."

Lorna Jackson, spokesman for the road safety charity Brake, echoed Mr Thornton's call.

She said: "We need more police enforcing the law. If people were more aware they were going to get caught, I think that would put people off."

However, Carole Whittingham, the founder of Scard (Support and Care After Death and Injury), blamed the justice system for the rise in the number of unlicensed and drunk drivers.

She said: "My son was killed by an unlicensed, illegal driver who was drunk. We have people who go to court time after time, after being stopped for driving without insurance and licenses, they go in front of a magistrate and get a slap on the wrist with a fine or a little bit of community service.

"If the person who killed my son had been given a worthwhile sentence he wouldn't have been on the road to kill my son."

Mrs Whittingham, whose 27-year-old son was killed by a drink driver in 1992, said she believed the advent of alcopops about ten years ago coincided with a rise in drink-driving among young people.

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