Beyond the Test: Road Safety for the Real World · Part 6 of 10
When and who: night driving, passengers and the drivers most at risk, and how to find out what your pupil really needs from their lessons.
“What would you like to work on today?” is a good question. It shows the examiner you are involving the pupil. But on its own it rarely uncovers the needs that matter most, because pupils tend to name what worries them about the test: the roundabout, the bay park, the hill start.
The crash data points to a different set of needs. It tells us when new drivers are most at risk and who is in the car when it happens. Those are questions worth asking every pupil.
When: late nights and early mornings
The DfT’s 2025 factsheet on younger and older drivers shows a striking pattern by time of day. Drivers aged 17 to 24 are over-represented in serious casualties in the late evening and early morning. At 2am, they make up 38% of all car driver KSI casualties. Older drivers’ casualties, by contrast, cluster around the middle of the day.
Night brings several risks together: darkness, tiredness, emptier roads that tempt higher speeds, and social journeys with friends. The Highway Code advises avoiding long journeys between midnight and 6am, when natural alertness is at its lowest.
Yet some pupils pass without ever having driven in the dark, particularly those who learn over the summer.
Who: passengers change everything
Between 2021 and 2025, passengers made up 21% of KSI casualties in collisions involving a younger driver, compared with 12% for drivers aged 25 to 69. Passengers aged 16 to 24 accounted for 85% of passenger deaths in cars driven by younger drivers: 225 out of 266.
In other words, young drivers mostly carry young passengers, and young passengers make up the great majority of passengers killed in their cars. Friends in the car bring distraction, encouragement to show off, loud music and the pressure not to look cautious.
This is why Northern Ireland’s new graduated driver licensing scheme, which started on 1 October 2026, restricts new drivers under 24 from carrying passengers between 11pm and 6am.
Who: young men
Males made up 77% of road deaths in 2025, and around three-quarters of KSI casualties aged 17 to 29. The RAC Foundation reports that young male drivers are four times as likely to be killed or seriously injured as car drivers aged 25 and over.
That is not a reason to treat young men as a problem. It is a reason to make sure that conversations about speed, passengers and showing off happen with the pupils most likely to need them, in a way that respects them rather than lectures them.
Better questions about goals and needs
Identifying learning goals and needs works best as an ongoing conversation, not a one-off form. These questions open up the risks the crash data points to:
Questions that reveal real needs. “When do you think you will do most of your driving once you pass?” “Have you driven in the dark yet? How did it feel?” “Who is most likely to ask you for a lift?” “How do you think driving with your friends will be different from driving with me?” “What would make it hard to say no to a passenger?”
The answers often surprise both of you. A pupil who has never thought about who will be in the car is a pupil with an unmet learning need.
On your next lesson
- Ask one question from the list at the start of a lesson and use the answer to shape part of the plan.
- Offer a lesson in darkness to every pupil before their test, ideally including an unlit road. Talk afterwards about what felt different.
- Role-play the passenger. On a quiet stretch, play the friend who wants to go faster or change the music, with the pupil’s agreement. Then talk about how it felt and what they could say.
- At the end of a lesson, ask the pupil to rate their readiness for night driving and for carrying friends, separately from their readiness for the test.
Part 3 and Standards Check: why this matters
Identifying the pupil’s learning goals and needs is the first competency an examiner marks. Strong evidence goes beyond asking what the pupil wants to practise today. It shows that you know the pupil’s wider situation and have built it into the lesson.
The passenger role-play and the night lesson both show a lesson plan adapted to the individual. They also link to risk management, because both require you to agree with the pupil how responsibility for risk will be shared before you start. Ending with a readiness rating supports the competency on encouraging the pupil to reflect on their own performance.
Unit 2 of the DVSA National Standard for Driver and Rider Training asks instructors to design learning around the client, and Unit 3 to create a climate that promotes learning. The National Standard for Driving Cars and Light Vans expects a driver to prepare themselves, the vehicle and its passengers for a journey (Role 1) and to drive safely and responsibly in the traffic system (Role 4).
Here is how this article’s lesson ideas map to the Standards Check competencies:
| Lesson idea | Area | Competency it supports |
|---|---|---|
| Ask one question and shape the plan | Lesson planning | Identifying the pupil’s learning goals and needs; adapting the lesson plan |
| Offer a lesson in darkness | Lesson planning / Risk management | Suitable practice areas; agreeing how responsibility for risk is shared |
| Role-play the passenger | Teaching and learning | Teaching style suited to the pupil; using examples to clarify learning |
| Rate readiness at the end | Teaching and learning | Encouraging the pupil to reflect on their own performance |
Join the conversation
I would really like to hear what you think. Please share your views and experiences in the comments on Facebook, where thousands of ADIs and PDIs are already part of the conversation.
This week’s question. How many of your pupils have driven in the dark before their test? How do you handle the subject of carrying friends?
You can also find me on LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. If you disagree with something here, say so. A good debate is how we all improve.
Further reading on grahamhooper.blog
- Identifying the Pupil’s Learning Goals and Needs
- Making Sense of the GDE, Part 7: Goals for Life and Skills for Living
- Applying the National Standard, Unit 3a: Creating a Climate That Promotes Learning
- Beyond the Test, Part 5: Is Your Practice Area Helping or Hurting Your Standards Check?
Browse every series at grahamhooper.blog
Coming next
Article 7: The Parent in the Passenger Seat. What new RAC Foundation research says about parents, private practice and post-test risk, and why involving them helps your lesson planning.
Sources
- Department for Transport (2026). Younger and older car drivers factsheet, 2025.
- Department for Transport (2026). RRCGB 2025: Casualty demographics.
- RAC Foundation (2026). How parents can deliver young driver safety.
- Department for Infrastructure NI (2026). Green light for graduated driver licensing from October.
- The Highway Code. Rule 91: driving when you are tired.
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