marke8

anyone else think the min driving age should be raised to 21.we were talking about it at work today.we all agreed apart from a spotty little corsa driver.
just how much quieter the roads would be and safer plus cheaper insurance

ScoobyDriverWannabe

21 in july plus already got licence and i know how much of a pain insurance is so gets my vote \o

farmer1

I have been counting down the days long enough, and I am almost there. So **** that idea.

Madjay2

aye so how are under 21's supposed to get to work? i dunno about over in england but over here the trains are ****e.

ScoobyDriverWannabe

they still use alot of horses over ur way dont they JJ lol

Dracoro

Erm chaps, just think of the logic here.

All you're doing is moving the crap low experienced people up 4 years.

A 21 year old will be a little more mature, however a 17 year old will be more impressionable and willing to learn and possibly more suited to learning to drive than a 21 yr old. The current system means that most 21 year old drivers will have up to 4 years driving experience. under this new system they will have none.

Then we'll have to move the age up to 25 as all the crap drivers will be 21/22/23/24 and so on. WHERE do you draw the line? 17 is old enough to be responsible whereas 15/16 probably isn't, besides most of them are at school and have no real need for a car. at 17 yrs old many maybe working and need transportation.

Most young drivers grow up as competent drivers. It's only the **** chavs in baseball caps in a spoilered up car driving badly that play badly on all the rest of them so you are stereotyping. hmmm, now what's the stereotype of a scoob driver? (**** chav in basecall caps in a spoilered up car )

richs2891

I can see Dracorco point about raising the age limit, you do a lot of growing up between the ago of 17 to 21 - well most people do ! And if you have the basic driving skills at 17 these will (should) grow with you.
The only way I can see it working to to radically update the current driving test so its a lot harder to pass and with things like motorway driving lessons etc, Personally would make all under 21's drive around with new learner plates on as well and increase the current 2 year 6 points thing to up to 21 years.
Would also like to see a compulsary retest for everyone every ten year. (logisitcal nightmare I know) as its not just young people who are complete prats behind the wheel, see plenty of older people every day who have absolutely no idea what so ever !

Richard

Brendan Hughes

Limit the power to weight ratio, as on learner motorbikes.

BMWhere?

I'd rather they just tought people to drive properly. Its about time they made driving at night and on the motorway a requirement of passing your test.

ScoobyDriverWannabe

i did all my lessons on a night only time i ever drove during the day was on the day of me test

BexTait

I've heard somewhere (can't remember where though, sorry), that if the driving age changes, it will go lower rather than higher. Something to do with the age in the rest of Europe IIRC.
Bex

bloke

The main thing is that for five years after your test you should be banned from driving Novas...seven years if you fancy sticking a baked beans can size tailpipe on one...

Leslie

Sounds like as selfish an idea as trying to ban older drivers.

Les

messiah

I think there needs to be a restriction that what cars new drivers should be allowed to drive - say nothing over a 1.2 for the first year after passing test, then 1.6 for a couple of years afterwards. I'm just using engine sizes as an example - power output would be a better guage.

dharbige

I don't see how this could work, unless they make the practical test multi-part. Otherwise, all driving tests would have to take place in the evening!

What if you are doing your test somewhere where there are no motorways nearby? Like Inverness? Aberdeen? Aberystwyth? Bangor? Plymouth?

Poor Guy

WTF!? Dope.

Scooby96

21 in july plus already got licence and i know how much of a pain insurance is so gets my vote

That will just mean the ins co's moving the goal posts, the highest risk category will then be 21-25, instead of 17-25!

BMWhere?

Doesn't have to be part of the test, just a pre-requisite to a test. Give the instructors a professional qualification and allow them to validate the motorway/night driving (and bad weather driving come to think of it!) before putting in for a final test.

I agree its a problem for the remote parts of the country. Perhaps it would be better to ban drivers from motorway access until they pass an additional motorway course or possibly give a waiver to drivers who are more than 50 miles or so from any motorways. I'm sure they could find an amicable solution.

My sister managed to crash a 950cc Fiesta into a bus the day she passed her test, so I'm not sure that limiting the power would help that much, but I'm feeling nasty today, so lets limit all the new drivers to 1.1l City-Rovers Young driviers in Switzerland are given a grant from the government to help them buy a new(ish) car so that you don't get people driving around in dangerous old heaps of junk! (yeah I know... more taxes!)

Theres lots of things that could be done to improve the level of driver training in the UK and they would all probably reduce the number of serious road accidents more than any number of speed cameras.

homer lawtey

What you've described as a multi-part test, is called the Pass-plus. It's available now, and some people only go for it as it lowers insurance premiums.

When my wife passes her test, I'll be paying the extra for here to have a night time drive and a motorway drive with her driving instructor. He then signs off the Pass-plus certificate. In reality, the qualification includes drving in poor weather, town driving, country roads, motorways, dual-carriageways, night driving, etc, but as she'll have demonstrated most of these OK before the test, the instructor will only need to see the remainder.

Agree with a power to weight ratio limit aswell, I had to put up with the limit when I did my bike test. You will probably still crash, but it won't be as tempting to drive like a *** at silly speeds.

Steve

BexTait

A lot of the driving experience you get when learning depends on where you live. When I passed, the only sections from the pass plus I hadn't done was the motorway driving. My instructor said she would take me out on the m'way, but it wasn't worth it since my dad uses them daily, and i'd have bene better off in his car since that was the one I was using mostly. All the other sections on the pass plus were covered in lessons. There was no point in me doing the pass plus, as it has to be 'used' within 1 or 2 years of passing, and I wasn't going to be getting my own car within that period.
I do in some ways agree that there should be some limit as to the power of the car learners can drive. I learnt to drive in my instructors car, but was practicing in my dad's 2.0l 406 estate (can't remember power) which I now drive. It's the people who, once they pass, get in to a much bigger, more powerful car that are more dangerous. If you're used to the power then fair enough, otherwise there should be a limit, or perhaps some test to show you are capable of handling the power.
Bex

bonkers

I've seen drivers of all ages, every ethnicity and both genders who couldn't find their **** with both hands and a steering wheel. What scares the snot outta me is the number of incompetent drivers with cell phones, fuggin huge SUVs or both!

Bonkers.