In a single year, 269 people died and 4,466 were seriously injured in collisions involving young car drivers aged 17 to 24 across Great Britain. These figures include passengers and other road users.

Think of the families behind those numbers. The knock at the door. The hospital bedside. The empty bedroom. Lives changed forever in an instant.

I refuse to accept that this is simply the price of young people gaining their independence. It does not have to be this way. That is why I welcome Northern Ireland becoming the first part of the UK to introduce Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL).

The scheme includes a minimum six-month learning period, structured training and temporary restrictions on carrying young passengers late at night during the first six months after passing a driving test.

These measures give newly qualified drivers time to gain experience while reducing distractions and pressure from friends in the car. As a national roads policing lead and campaigner for graduated licensing, I want England to follow Northern Ireland’s example.

At two events I attended recently, the human cost of losing young lives on our roads was impossible to ignore.

At Brake’s UK Fleet Champions Awards, I heard from Vicki McCarthy, who lost her 16-year-old daughter, Jordanna, in a road crash. Speaking about the milestones they would never share, including helping her daughter into her wedding dress, brought home the devastating reality of road death.

At a Foundation of Light conference, a moving tribute remembered Jackson Duke, Luke Etheridge and Zara Shaw, three local teenagers whose lives were tragically cut short recently on the River Wear.

Every young life is precious and worth protecting. I urge Ministers to introduce graduated licensing in England before more families suffer the heartbreak of losing a loved one on our roads.