Hollyoaks babe says "keep your hands on the wheel"

Gemma Merna, 25, is better known as the ditzy (if gorgeous) Carmel Valentine in hit TV show Hollyoaks and she is now hoping to use her prominent position in the psyche of younger viewers to promote better driving habits, especially in the crucial couple of years after passing the driving test.

Merna is fronting a campaign funded by Aviva insurance, which comes off the back of a research study asking 17 - 21 year-olds across the UK about their attitudes toward driving practices.

One of the biggest conclusions from the report is that peer pressure has a massive effect on how a young driver acts when behind the wheel, with shocking statistics indicating that about 11 percent of male drivers don't wear their seatbelts when in the car with friends. Incredibly, one in ten young male passengers reckons it's a sign of disrespect towards the driver to wear a seatbelt.

While those numbers shocked Gemma, she pointed out the other statistics gleaned from the young drivers, all relating to driving with friends in the car:

24 percent take their hands off the wheel and/or shout at other drivers;

21 percent turn around to talk to passengers;

14 percent admitted to performing an illegal manoeuvre;

12 percent whistled or called to a member of the opposite sex;

11 percent swerved in time to music;

10 percent raced other drivers;

9 percent jumped traffic lights;

8 percent overloaded the car with passengers;

5 percent admitted to not wearing a seatbelt.

Quotes from some of the respondents include:

Alex Rodwell, 17 from Barnet said: "It's a lot more difficult driving when you have other people in the car. I know my friends drive differently when they have friends in the car - you know, putting on the 'jack the lad' act - you know, put the seat back and instead of holding the steering wheel, rest their hand on top of it. Show off to the lads, boys are like that."

Olivia Zane, 17 from Hertfordshire said: "Honestly yes, I drive different depending on who's in the car. Like I had a full car the other day and did like a 10 minute drive and there was more noise going on, more conversations and I just said to myself like I can't listen to anything, I've just got to keep on driving but everybody else is talking and shouting and gossiping and everything, and you want to listen."

Adam Gilbert, 19 from Aylesford said: "I think my friends drive differently with friends in their car. They're a bit more ambitious and less sensible - a bit more just sort of enjoying the driving itself instead of just doing it as a way to get around. They might show off a little bit, show how fast their car can go, how much control they think they have over the car - when they wouldn't normally drive like that."

Unsurprisingly, the young drivers alter their behaviour when a parent or grandparent is in the car, with a whopping 97 percent saying that they more strictly follow the rules of the road in that situation.

Along with admitting fault with the young drivers' attitude to driving while with friends, the data suggests that many driving schools are not teaching how to drive, but how to pass the driving test, leaving the young driver in a dangerously inexperienced position once they have their licence and the authorisation to drive on any road.

Apparently one in five learners only practiced on the driving test route with their instructor. One respondent sums up this short-sighted approach:

Sophie Chappell, 18, Bedford said: "I still can't park. I can't do either reverse or parallel. So I crash frequently and park miles away so there's no cars either side of me. I also don't drive on motorways - I'm too scared. I take different routes, longer routes. My mum said she'd take me on it but she's quite scared of my driving."

Nigel Bartram of Aviva says: "In order to reduce these statistics young drivers and passengers alike need to take personal responsibility for their own actions - this means wearing a seatbelt at all times regardless of who is in the car, driving with fewer passengers and not conforming to peer pressure whilst behind the wheel.

"If young drivers take this advice on board and drive more responsibly we have every reason to expect the number of claims will reduce and claims' costs will fall. If we see reduction in our claims costs for young drivers we expect that our premiums for younger drivers should fall in line with this. We want to do what we can to try and help young motorists, but in order to reduce premium we need to work together."

Gemma Merna echoes these sentiments, calling for young drivers to look after themselves and encourage each other to be safer, not more reckless behind the wheel.

Shane O' Donoghue