If you check austats, you will find that in the last 10 years, for driver only fatalities (ie: not counting passengers) 18 year old males are 3 times more likely to be killed on the roads than a male in their forties. Yes, three times as many 18 yo's are dead than 40 yo's in that period. It's only about twice as likely if you're female. The figures are there, and the figures don't lie. The older you get, the less likely you are to die in a road accident. Three big killers: Fatigue, Inexperience, inattention. The middle one is the big killer in young people. That is why they are targeted.
I spend a portion of my life doing driver training with young people, I know the figures, I know the skill levels, and I know what they don't know. I'm sorry, it's a sad fact, but it's true.