Interviewee - an expert's take on teenage brain development
As a part of my feature Licence to Freedom, exploring the GDL debate, as well as looking into the risks young drivers face. I spoke with a neurologist about the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the influence this has on young drivers.
Professor Clea Warburton, of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Bristol, specialises in memory of the PFC - the part of the brain which is responsible for decision making, impulse control and memory.
Sitting behind the forehead, the PFC, doesnt fully develop until around the 25 age mark. Currently, in the UK, the minimum age you can pass your test is 17.
The adolescent brain undergoes "significant changes" in cognitive development.
"What's interesting about the prefrontal cortex is that during adolescence, it goes through a significant rewiring process."Says Prof Clea Warburton.
"For teenagers, this rapid change in the wiring and the way that the brain, kind of, the prefrontal cortex starts to get connected up, because it's undergoing a huge amount of change, that results in some of the changes that we see and that might define adolescent behaviour."
Risk-taking is a factor in why young drivers may engange with dangerous behaviour behind the wheel. According to the Department for Transport, in 2024, there were 4,740 fatalities or serious injuries that involved at least one novice driver on Britain's roads in 2024.
Peer pressure and inexperience are two of the main risk factors which leave young drivers more likely to be involved in a collision.
Clea says: "There is a significant switch in the behaviour that could be underpinned by the changes in the wiring in the brain. We know that teenagers change a lot.
"Your typical child may be very family-focused, but this may shift during the adolescent years. So that a typical adolescent becomes a lot more friendly and socially kind of focused."
The brain continues to change to be able to memorise and restore information to allow development to make better decisions in the future, like learning how to ride a bike.
Risk-taking behaviour in teens
"In adolescence, there is a change in focus, so they may stop listening - research shows that you stop listening, perhaps to what adults are telling you, and are much more influenced by what your friends are doing."
The likelihood of young drivers being involved in a serious fatality increases when younger drivers are in the car.
Figures from the AA show that when a young driver is carrying one passenger younger than 21, the chance increases to 44%.
This then doubles when carrying two passengers and quadruples when carrying three or more younger passengers.
However, this significantly decreases by 62% when an older passenger is present in the vehicle with a young person.
Prof Clea believes this is due to inexperienced drivers being "much more likely to be influenced by friends. They may take risks not to be socially ostracised, or lose their friends, or not be part of their peer group.”
“I think the reason that it isn't, it isn't having people in the car. It's just that the, the brain has a limited capacity and what it compares attention to."
“Similarly, when you're tired, that reduces your processing capacity, which means that a smaller number of distractors is likely to result in an accident. There's more distraction in the car, and if you've got a limited capacity, then you are much more likely to have an accident that can result in quite significant issues."
Driving at night
Another key factor associated with risks for young drivers is driving in the dark. In the UK, - 20% of young drivers are involved in a crash in their first year of passing.
The highest risk times are between midnight and the early hours of the morning. At weekends it is said to be through 5-6 am. This could be linked to poor visibility, and sometimes drinking and drugs.
“At night, your visibility is reduced so you need to be using your, what we call, your cognitive resources, your attention, your experience, what you've learned, to be aware of all the hazards that are out there and be focused on those, again, as opposed to focused on, you know, somebody in the back seat.”
'If you haven't got the resources to do that, attention-wise, then that is going to mean that you are potentially more or likely to have an accident."
“You've got to be aware of people outside of the car, so lots and lots of distractors. You have to be aware of, indicating, checking the mirrors, and the steering wheel; you have a lot of motor functions that you need to perform, as well as some attentional tasks. And I think a lot of that comes with practice.”
“If you are relatively inexperienced, then you need to be putting all your focus on driving."
As a part of the proposed, GDL scheme campaigners support for their to be a curfew for young drivers to be able to build up experience before driving in the dark alone.
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