Young male drivers pay higher insurance premiums than any other category of driver because they are more likely to have a serious accident resulting in injury or death. No matter how responsible a young driver is, he cannot change the demographic group he belongs to and motor insurers shudder at the thought of male 16-to-30-year-olds. The idea of lower premiums for young drivers is not necessarily a pipedream but it will involve great changes in the culture of driving.

Such fundamental changes come about notoriously slowly or not at all and a great deal of commitment is required from drivers, insurers and policymakers to move things along.

The non-discounted cost of fire, theft and third-party cover for a standard one-litre engine car is in the region of £2,000 for a 21-year-old Dublin man.

Mr John O'Neill, chief executive of Axa Ireland, which insures one in three private cars in the Republic, explains that this punitive rate reflects the industry's experience. "Males in the 17-23-year age bracket are six times more likely to be involved in a serious accident than a man over 30," Mr O'Neill said.

"That is down to speed, bravado and poor judgment on the part of the driver and there are flaws in the provisional licence system which make matters worse."

Mr O'Neill makes the point that, at the moment, a 17-year-old can apply to his local authority, buy a licence for £12 and get behind the wheel of a car without opening the Rules of the Road and without any idea of how to drive.

Provisional licences, which are valid for two years, permit novice drivers to learn to drive on public roads. There are 1.75 million holders of driving licences of which 330,000 are provisional.

He says there should at the very least be a written test on the rules of the road.

A detailed package of enforcement, education and other measures is contained in the Government's National Road Safety Strategy document - The Road to Safety. This strategy covers the five years 1998-2002 and aims to reduce fatalities and serious injuries by 20 per cent over that period.

The written theory test - which is included in the objectives of The Road to Safety - is out to tender at the moment, according to a spokesman for the Department of the Environment. The contract is expected to be signed in October, which would mean the test would be ready for introduction early next year.

Mr O'Neill would like to see more extensive changes and recommends restrictions on provisional licence holders.

"For the first three months, the driver should be accompanied by a qualified instructor and he should have to build up a minimum quota of driving hours' experience before he can begin driving with an unqualified full licence holder."

Of course it's very frustrating for the large numbers of responsible law-abiding young male drivers who feel hounded off the road by high premiums. Mr Jonathan Bruce of Dun Laoghaire has had his own policy for two years and, at the age of 24, he says getting a quote has been a nightmare.

"I put aside a day to ring around and compare quotes and I was laughed at by some insurance companies when I gave my age. I was quoted over £2,000 for this year but I eventually got covered for £1,250," he said.

What he finds most annoying is that so little recognition is given to his experience as a safe driver. "I passed my test first time at 18 and I feel I'm paying the price for maniac drivers on the road. I have no way of proving that I am not one of them."

Up to the beginning of this week, provisional Garda figures show 180 people were killed on roads in the Republic this year. Unsurprisingly, 55 of these fatalities were in the 16 to 25 age group. Male road deaths outnumber female fatalities by three to one.

It is also clear that many provisional licence holders are not observing the conditions of their licences. Under the Road Traffic Act, only holders of a second provisional licence are entitled to drive alone.

Supt Vincent McGuire of the Garda National Traffic Bureau says one problem with licence enforcement is that a driving licence offence does not negate insurance.

"Driving unaccompanied or without L plates is perceived as a relatively minor motoring offence which, at most, incurs a small penalty," Supt McGuire said. Disqualification is at the discretion of the judge and not mandatory.

Under the standard terms of any motor insurance policy, an insured driver is covered if he holds a driving licence to drive the insured vehicle or "having held such a licence is not disqualified from holding such a licence".

In practice this means that a policyholder, who is a provisional licence holder, is fully covered if involved in an accident regardless of whether the driver is on his first, second or third provisional licence, and whether or not he is accompanied by a full licence holder.

In a statement, the Insurance Industry Federation stressed, however, "that this in no way means that insurers condone provisional drivers driving unaccompanied where the terms of their licences prohibit it".

The fact that drivers are not obliged to have a licence on them when driving is a disincentive to enforcement from the point of view of gardai. If a garda asks a driver to produce a licence to determine if an offence has taken place, the person has 10 days to present it at the Garda station of their choice.

This system involves sending forms back and forth between stations and is open to inefficiencies.

There is a provision in the 1994 Road Traffic Act which would require drivers to carry a licence, and it is Government policy to activate that provision, although that has not yet happened.

According to a spokesman for the Department of the Environment, an amendment to the Road Traffic Act is needed before this provision can be activated along with a penalty points system for driving offences.

The Department was working on it and hoped to publish a Bill in the coming weeks, the spokesman said.

But with the Dail not sitting until late October after the summer recess, the new measures are unlikely to make it to the statute books before early 2001.

Mr O'Neill believes rigid enforcement of the current rules would make a big difference in cutting down speeding and reckless driving.

"We need Draconian punishment if the rules are broken, with mandatory exclusion from driving for driving without a licence. The exuberance of youth will not recognise the dangers of the road so the only solution is to threaten and enforce," Mr O'Neill said.

He advises parents and car owners to do some of their own enforcing, especially by not giving young drivers use of a car to socialise at night, the time when most accidents happen.

This practice of keeping novice drivers off the road at night is law in Canada, a country with an exemplary licensing system for learner drivers, according to Mr Cyril McHugh, chief executive of Society of the Irish Motor Industry. "For a number of years we've been recommending some form of training for learner drivers. The best model is the Canadian graduated licensing system. The first year begins with a written test on the rules of the road, speeding awareness etc. There is zero alcohol tolerance for driving in the first year.

"Year one learners are restricted from driving between midnight and 5 a.m., there are limitations on passenger numbers and a qualified driver must accompany the learner at all times," Mr McHugh said.

There is a test after the first year, and if the person passes they are freed from all the restrictions, bar the alcohol ban, for the following year.

At the end of the second year, the drivers take a second more technical test before they get a full licence.

Mr McHugh believes that the effect of this system is that it gives people a different attitude towards learning how to drive and creates more awareness about the dangers of driving.

Until attitudes begin to change here, the Irish Insurance Federation recommends stronger enforcement as a possible short-to-medium term solution to the high cost of motor insurance for young drivers.

It also believes that greater safety awareness is essential to the task of reducing motor insurance. The latest survey by the National Roads Authority found that over half of the motorists on Irish roads were breaking the speed limit. Clearly much work remains to be done to convince drivers that there is a direct correlation between their driving habits and how much they pay for insurance.

The Road to Safety education packs for primary schools will be sent to all schools in September and the post-primary programme is expected to come on stream in 2001.

One final source of frustration to learner drivers paying high premiums is the long wait for a driving test. The waiting time for the test is averaging 29 weeks nationally at the moment, but the problem has been prioritised by the department. The target is to cut the wait to 10 weeks by the end of the year, but the challenge must be to tighten up the whole licensing system to really make an impact on fatal accident statistics.