NOVICE drivers and their parents are being asked to help cut the number of crashes involving young motorists.

One in three newly-qualified drivers has an accident within a year of passing their test, and about 1,300 teenage drivers are killed or seriously injured on Britain's roads each year.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents wants to know if "safety contracts" between parents and their children could help to reduce this toll.

In America, it has become popular for parents and their children to reach an agreement limiting the young person's driving to help new drivers avoid high-risk situations.

RoSPA wants to hear from families in the two counties who have experimented with similar schemes.

They are asked to fill in a questionnaire on the road safety section of the society's www.rospa.com website.

The questionnaire asks if young drivers use a family car or their own car, and about restrictions they might agree with.

"Before recommending agreements, we want to know what people think about them, about which restrictions have been tried and which have proved most relevant," said Kevin Clinton, RoSPA head of road safety.

"They could be things such as limiting the number of passengers, confirming destinations in advance, not drinking and driving, not using mobile phones and not allowing anyone else to drive."