as just on itv
Fast cars and young drivers. So how do you stop them and how fast is fast for a young driver?

post away

 

as just seen they quite clearly dont know their limits

 

do we no are limits ??

 

Did feel sorry for that lad tho.

 

The spokeswoman from Brake is all over the tv at the moment - she's so smug

 

But he would still be out there now racing just like i did not so long ago i now no why i dont go up brum

 

Do agree their mate but thats not good for anyone what his condtion is now.

 

I am a daft **** and I am 36 next month, cue the next Trevor Mc Doughnut programme 'Middle aged racers'.

 

Does seem a problem.

I started driving in the mid 80's and insurance wasn't bad.

By the time I was 20 I'd owned GTI's, XR3's, 260bhp XR4X4 Turbos etc, etc.

I was never as bad as some of the current Corsa crowd, I think part of the problem is they can only afford to run low powered cars so have to drive flat out everywhere they go. Driving such abortions with little power and no handling they never really learn car control and respect until they write off there slow little toy that's full of ICE and plastic spoilers.
It also probably goes with the attitude some teenagers have in all areas of their little lives.

Cheers
Lee

 

Get a MK1 Capri 1600 GT, bored to 1760 on a twin choke webber and learn car control at walking pace in the Wythenshawe Forum car park, get told to provoke it and realise how easy it was to crash, get told to drive at 40 mph up to cones and brake when you think you can still stop nd knock them out of the way and still oilterate them, my dad and my grandad knew I would be a liability so gave me some boundaries and it worked, I nearly crashed a few times but could control that car very well, I could provoke it and instigate a slide, I knew the brakes locked, I knew it oversteered like a ****.


Nowadays, people let their kids get a car and dont give them any instruction, road signs, rules and stuff is one side but plain old car conrol is the other.

I reckon when I was about 21 I never was beter, I was fast, accurate and alert, nowadays, no way as quick but just as daft.

J4CKOs mate used to leave finger prints in the dash board the scaredy f*cker !

 

im 20 and as I drove a fast car for my age at 17 I went on a car control course for a day sliding a cossy round 3 sisters. I learnt some real knowledge that day, even some things my elders dont know.

 

I've pulled more younger bodies our of cars than I have older ones.
We are in the process of putting together a roadshow with the police, ambulance, NHS and victims of RTC/As and looking to hit the 16/17 year olds in the schools.
Fife have done this already and I have seen the video. Very hard hitting, very emotional and has a lasting effect on the kids.
Open them up to as many of the consequences as possible and dont sugar-coat it.

 

Agree with this, Humberside did it YEARS ago with bikes and young people in cars.

Unfortunately, after a couple of years, the kids got used to it, even new groups, and it had fek all effect

We ARE one of the only countries in Europe to put zero restrictions on youngsters after they have passed their tests, relying, as we do, on the higher insurance to put them off .
And of course , we all know that they ALL pay insurance, and they ALL declare their mods?

No. What we need is something along the lines of: can't drive anything above 1300cc, and with NO mods and less than 75bhp until they are 21, OR have been passed 3 years! They should also have to carry a plate restricting them to 50 mph until then too.

But will our "We are interested in Road Safety, and bringing down Road deaths, (not just revenue)" government do ANYTHING?

DON'T watch this space

Alcazar

BTW: we are also the youngest drivers in Europe, being as our kids can drive at 17; everyone else's can drive at 18.
(PLEASE, no-one mention the dopey Americans.....)

 

I think thats a good idea. I think the way most young drivers play around doncaster is terrible. But I also reckon you should be able to top up your license with extra courses for full privileges

 

If you are going to place restrictions on ppl after passing their test, it would only seem reasonable that the restrictions are based on bhp/ton and lb.ft/ton.

Otherwise you will have reasonably responsible ppl who just like larger cars having to go out and find a 1.2 litre engine to transplant into their vectra/omega.

At the other end of the scale you will get ppl who go for the kit car approach and end up with a 75bhp engine in a car weighing in at only 500kg.

Also need to look at lb.ft/ton so that everyone does not just rush out and get a turbo diesel

 

i must admit if it came to that scenario i would put a flowed up, lightened and balanced 1300 in me westy.

 

But surely this has been happening for years? Certainly as far as I can remember. What has suddenly made it such a bigger and new problem.

Don't know about the UK, but plenty of hoons in NZ and Aus in the 70s and 80s with souped up V8s and rotaries (RX3/RX4) etc.

 

There will always be youing drivers who go faster than they are able to control the car, and also smug PC Plonkers acting as concerned reporters. I don't have much respect for any of them personally.

Les

 

you cant put restrictions on people when they pass there test because of age! im sure someone like lewis hamilton etc would love to hear that at 17/18/19/20/21 you have no skills and cant drive anything other than a 1.0 micra! lol

logiclee made a good point that the young drivers are mostly driving 1.2 corsa's with stupid bodykits and 10000000kg's of ice in them becasue they cant insure any sort of performance car but they still think they can drive them like a ferrari! hence accidents.

you cant group all young drivers together as bad drivers its just not fair! I had a GTO and a 300ZX TT before i was 21 and didnt crash any of them????

 

It's a big problem out here. Young 'uns pass their test, get P plates but can drive anything AFAIK. Anything being daddy's HSV(up to 297kW or 400+HP ) or buy their own Commodore/Ford V8 ten year old barge that still have foodles of power but **** all handling or brakes.

The death toll continues to rise

 

There is definately something to this: I well recall a friend of mine driving like a right nutter in his first car (a 1.4 Escort) at the tender age of 17. He was a liability; personally, I didn't like getting in the car with him and told him on several occassions that it was pure luck that he'd not written the car off. When I heard he was getting a XR2i (considered a quick car at the time) I winced!

However, he grew up rather quickly in that car. TBH the effect of the power of the car was confounded by greater age and experience (he was 20 then), but it was telling that when someone commented how much more controlled his driving style had become, he replied, "well things happen quite a bit quicker in this car than the escort, so you need to calm down a bit".

That said, I think it is a point of good sense that you should not be permitted to pass your test and immediately get into something powerful; it's putting a youngster in temptations way and -lets face it- the vast majority of 17 year olds -especially us lads, are a bit ego driven and prone to taking risks on the road. I was about as level headed as a 17 year old could have been, but could I hand on heart say I could have been trusted with something quick. No, I'm afraid I couldn't. Performance car driving is a different ball game to regular car driving and -above all else- requires the right attitude and temprement. These are the two things that often need the most work in most teens. To be honest some adults could benefit from work in these areas too, but lets face it, teens will be much better represented in this category.

I also think that driver education should be improved such that the test includes motorway driving assessment and the training includes skid control. I'd like to see fairer insurance premiums for kids who do choose small cars to start with and prove that they can be trusted after a year or two; current premiums can be a joke and this promote kids using their parents insurance. I'd also like to see VERY tough penalties for those who dont pay insurance, or get convicted of a driving offence early on and custodial sentences for those who drive whilst banned - a longer ban is hardly going to deter them is it?

Ns04

 

Good post New Scooby 04, pretty accurate all round.

Les

 

i totally agree i had an rs500 when i was 22 way back in 91 it was a modded 400bhp monster and an absolute handfull(in the wet no feckin chance)and although i had passed my test 5 yrs earlier and had other cars without a doubt this beast taught me respect,restraint and how to drive there are things the scoob will do that i woudnt have dare tried in the cossie.

oohh and it was £450 fully comp which is nearly half what im payin now yet im older and wiser.

 

I learnt the basics of car control in a gokart in a wet field when I was 9. Im sure that I was better then too.....

 

Its because teens of today have lost respect of how dangerous driving is. Back in the day cars were light as **** with crappy tires and brakes compared to now, and cars ahd a heightened sense of speed compared to the heavy siund proofed monsters of today.

 

A lot to be said for that theory Audilover. I stlll maintain that even the vastly improved handling and braking of today's cars still can't guarantee safety at high speeds on todays public roads.

In those days there was time to pick up your motor 'bike after falling off it, examine it for damage, and push it to the side of the road before another car came by.

Les

 

you can't group us young drivers all together but I can't stand all these idiots that put other people at risk, really pi$$es me off. I was at Tesco's the other week, think it was the night this ITV programme was filmed and the amount of chav's in the car park battering there daft car's up and down the car park at stupid speeds and doing doughnuts and sliding across the car park was rediculous!! They all need a good slap!!
In Stockport which is near to where me and Gav live there's loads of chav's in there daft little cars, we can't drive up the A6 without a little boy/girl racer wanting the race the scoob!! gets so annoying!!

Rant over!!..

Carla..

 

I think you all mean inexperienced drivers. You could be 22, and have 5 years driving experience or turn 40 and just got your license. It doesn't matter how old you are. But what I'll do as an insurance company is make it a policy that inexperienced car drivers do a week of training with a pro a track.

 

I find it amazing that it isn't included in the driving test. It's where some of the worst driving takes place.

Steve

 

Has the introduction of the phased licence thing reduce the number of deaths on motorcycles?