First-year Canberra P-platers may soon be restricted from driving between midnight and dawn and from having more than one passenger under the age of 24 in the car at any time of the day or night.

The sweeping changes to L and P-plate regulations proposed by the Government are now open for community consultation.

Among the proposed changes, learner drivers would need to hold their permit for a year — a doubling of the current six-month period.

The number of practice hours would also double, from the current 50 recommended hours to a minimum of 100 supervised driving hours, including 10 hours at night time.

Those changes bring learner drivers more into line with other Australian jurisdictions, but the changes for P-platers would make restrictions for first-year provisional drivers among the strictest in the country.

The Government wants to introduce P1 and P2 stages, with drivers remaining on P1 for the first 12 months of their three-year P-plate licence.

During this time P1 drivers would not be able to drive between midnight and 5:00am and would be limited to one passenger between 16 and 24 years of age in the car at all times.

Only South Australia and Western Australia have a blanket ban on first-year P-platers driving in the early hours of the morning — though in WA the restriction only lasts for six months.

For other states — New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria — P1 drivers are only restricted from driving at night if they have multiple passengers in the car.

But in Queensland and New South Wales the cut-off age for the passenger is three years younger at 21. In Victoria the cut-off age for peer passengers is 22.

Changes must balance independence and public safety

Road Safety Minister Shane Rattenbury said he recognised that some of the proposed changes might affect the independence of young drivers, their families and friends.

But he said research in other jurisdictions showed introducing the range of measures could lead to a 50 per cent reduction in fatal and serious injury crashes for young drivers under 24.

And he said the reason for community consultation was to examine possible exemptions.

"We want to have a situation where young people who are working late or perhaps starting early in the morning can get to work," he said.

"But we also know that midnight to 5:00am is the most dangerous [time period] for young drivers due to fatigue, inattention, inadvertent drink driving and so we also need to put those restrictions in place."

Mr Rattenbury said young drivers, under 24, are overrepresented in road crash statistics.

Since 2006, an average of 12 people per year have died on ACT roads, with about two of those per year killed by young Canberra drivers (aged between 17-24).

In the same time period, on average one young driver dies every year, with half of those deaths occurring between the hours of midnight and 5:00am.

The ACT Government has not proposed any changes to speed limits for L or P plate drivers, nor introduced a ban on high-powered vehicles.

Canberrans can participate in a survey on the proposed changes through the Government's Your Say website.

Driving instructors disappointed they weren't consulted

Driving instructors are disappointed they were not consulted on the changes, but said they broadly welcomed the proposals.

Instructor Daniel Flanagan said the 10 hours of night-time driving for learners was a good idea, though he would like to see that number higher.

And he said many instructors were concerned about learner drivers even meeting the 100 supervised driving hours minimum.

"What you find in New South Wales is that parents forge the hours … they're adding the extra half hour or hour because it is quite difficult to accrue 100 hours," he said.

"It really is a trust-based system."