By Alan Richardson and Steven Bell

CURFEWS AND restrictions on passengers and engine sizes will all be considered as Scotland’s police forces seek a consensus on tackling dangerous young drivers.

Tayside Chief Constable John Vine revealed that the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) will formalise its response to the menace at its next meeting.

Mr Vine made his views clear as police began a crackdown on young Scottish drivers after 32 under-25s were killed on the country’s roads in the first three months of the year.

Mr Vine said at yesterday’s Tayside Joint Police Board meeting in Perth, “I was reading about the increase in people murdered in knife crime today but no one ever mentions the fact double the number of people are killed on Scotland’s roads every year.

“There is a thing about road crime—people are very forgiving of it because there seems to be a feeling of ‘there but for the grace of God go I’ and that’s part of the problem.

“The ACPOS position on young drivers is going to be formulated at the next meeting and I’ve asked all the forces to come forward with views on what to do about young drivers.

“Overseas there are a number of restrictions but we don’t really have a position in this country…I’d like ACPOS to have a consensus position on this issue without penalising people who drive responsibly.

“The statistics show young people are far more likely to have a serious or fatal road accident.”

Among the suggestions put forward were a restriction in the engine size available to young drivers and bans on carrying passengers or driving at night.

Mr Vine said, “A lot of accidents occur with young men driving small cars so it may be that restriction won’t make a difference.

“Many accidents occur when young drivers are carrying passengers so maybe one way will be to say you can’t carry passengers.

“Some research needs to be done about when such accidents happen and if they are not at night-time, a curfew idea might not work.

“What I want to achieve is a position paper with consensus in the same way we have on drink driving where we have argued for a reduction in the limit from 80 microgrammes to 50 and random testing.”