New proposed driving laws for young drivers

Ixon said:
Engine size limits on all new drivers for the first 2 years.
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I really don't understand how anyone could think that government imposed car/engine size/BHP would do much in the way of effecting crash statics. For the most part insurance restricts what a young driver can and can't drive, and if the young person does decide to 'pay to play' and gets something that can do 0-60 in less than 10 seconds then that's of him.

I always maintain that if I drove a 60BHP ****box for the last two years I'd be a worse driver than I am today. For the first part having a bit of power underneath my foot since I climbed into a car with my provisional for the first time has automatically had an effect on to me to be more responsible behind the wheel and second part is that I've wanted to own every car I have had so far and not been forced into buying one for insurance purposes, as such I look at them and would be rather upset if I stuck one into a wall. Little things like that make a big difference.

That's what insurance is for, and if a young person can find a way of 'paying to play' and can get insured on som
 
Mr Jack said:
Hmm... is it that time again? Doesn't this get trotted out pretty much every year?

I can't see it happening, while younger drivers are more dangerous I don't see much advantage to these limits. All they will do is prevent the people who actually need their cars from using them effectively.
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How could these be enforced?

A better solution is simply putting engine size/BHP restrictions/Mod restrictions on young persons cars with additional restrictions, say:
1 retest per year until 20yrs old
AND
6pts = license lost until 20yrs old


But also on the opposite side, regular driving tests for Elderly (65yrs +) is much needed.
 
Ixon said:
I personally do think the law should be changed for all new drivers.

First up anybody that just passed, should be supervised for the first 6 months of driving, to gain some experience before driving on their own, be it Parent,Spouse ect.

Motorway & night driving should be part of driving lessons & test.

Engine size limits on all new drivers for the first 2 years.

Just these 3 things would be enough in my book.
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What motorway enviroment should learners be taken on? I need to know so I can plan my journeys around the massive pile-ups it will cause.

Also, what about people who don't live near a motorway?

Since when is engine size proportinal to how fast a car goes or indeed ho it's driven?
 
f00f1ght0r said:
How could these be enforced?
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I'm not sure why you think BHP limits, etc. would be easier to enforce? I'd assume the Police would stop young looking drivers carrying multiple passengers, or driving during the night. So, basically you're relying on coppers spotting it just like seatbelts or mobile phone laws.
 
Muffin` said:
What motorway enviroment should learners be taken on? I need to know so I can plan my journeys around the massive pile-ups it will cause.

Also, what about people who don't live near a motorway?

Since when is engine size proportinal to how fast a car goes or indeed ho it's driven?
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You think that the current system is better than giving learners a chance to practise on the motorway?

The current system is "Oh well done, you've passed our expensive superficial test, off you plop". How is that any better?
 
Engine BHP size is pretty fallable, i mean you could say no more than a 1.6 and then someone will putt up with a B16 engine and thats not really within the spirit...

But then you could take a BHP limit, but i mean, subject to a rolling road test on all cars this one is going to get pretty flakey, throw a few hundred quid in mods at a diesel or a petrol, or even throw on a turbo and then what happens to the improvised bhp limit?
 
Surely a large part of the problem with young, inexperienced drivers, is that you can pass your test without encountering many situations that you then find yourself in on the road.

For example, you can (and in many cases do) pass your test without:

Learning to use a slip road
Driving on the motorway
Driving at night
Driving in the wet

It's been a while since I passed my test and I know things have changed. So apologies if this is no longer the case. But I'm sure there will be other things that apply too.

The amount of times I see someone approach a slip road and treat it almost like a 'give way', causing cars on the carriageway to then break and let them in, is shocking.

So many drivers seem to have never been taught to read the road ahead and anticipate well ahead of time. This is one of the single biggest things that I think you learn with experience, and so much more emphasis should be put on it when learning.
 
Lets be sensible about this.

This is brakes idea. (This means it is highly likely to be a stupid nerotic idea by people who if they do drive would never dare to excede 40 mph except maybe on the motorway if the middle lane is clear).

How about.

1. Skid / driving skills offroad to explore limits of a car. (much harder now with all electronics)

2. Dual carriageway / motorway driving.

3. How NOT to pull out in front of me and expect me to follow you at 30mph on a national speed road.

4. Night driving. (i did this as it was dark during some of my lessons)
 
Having been driving for a few years, I can think of one simple solution, which is already in place and would help quite a lot. Make Pass Plus compulsory. It covers quite a few additional parts of driving, the most important of which is motorway driving.

I did mine a few months after taking my test, and found it bought me up to a much more suitable standard driving.

On the topic of engine size and BHP, that really won't make much of a difference to how dangerously you can drive. A driver in an underpowered car can still drive too fast for the conditions, take unneccesary risks and not pay attention the the road ahead.
 
I'm not sure about some of the proposed policies, but I would support a much much tougher driving test and mandatory training before people lose their L plates.

The current test does very little to prepare you for the reality of driving.
 
jr1104 said:
Having been driving for a few years, I can think of one simple solution, which is already in place and would help quite a lot. Make Pass Plus compulsory. It covers quite a few additional parts of driving, the most important of which is motorway driving.

I did mine a few months after taking my test, and found it bought me up to a much more suitable standard driving.

On the topic of engine size and BHP, that really won't make much of a difference to how dangerously you can drive. A driver in an underpowered car can still drive too fast for the conditions, take unneccesary risks and not pay attention the the road ahead.
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True.

The Pass Plus route would give instructors more revenue too ~ supporting British Businesses etc
 
I think the state of driving on British motorways has a lot to do with it not being covered by the current driving test. After using European highways I'm always disgusted with the lack of discipline shown on our motorways, with the prime example being middle lane hogging.

Adding some element of motorway driving in to the driving test will slowly improve the motorway driving experience to the point where it might actually be enjoyable! (This will take many years though)


My suggestion would be to borrow elements from the motorbike test:

1. Learner drivers must be supervised and display an 'L' plate
2. After taking the provisional licence test (similar to current test) drivers can be unsupervised but must display a 'P' plate
3. After a minimum period of time (6 months?) the provisional driver can take a full licence test (covers motorway driving and other advanced subjects)
4. If the provisional driver has not taken and passed the full licence test within 2 years they need to re-take the provisional test.
 
In my own opinion, I feel the government should bring into the motorcycle limited BHP system for new drivers, i.e limit new drivers to small cc cars with restricted BHP
I also feel that New drivers cars should have a limited top speed of 70mph, the number of times i used to share lifts with Muppet's raging the hell out of 1.2 ltr Clio at 90+ mph as the things moving all over the road.
 
Juggy1985 said:
Its a good idea in my opinion. Its mostly the young uns that just got there licence causing trouble driving like idiots on the roads, especially at night at those cruises. Its partly there fault insurance keeps going up like it does.
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Juggy1985 said:
Yes, because you wont be inclined to show off to your mates if you have no mates in the car to show off too. Also if you are in an accident there will only be you in the car and not 3/4 mates that die or go to hospital.
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Nice sterotypes there :) Do you actually believe them? :eek:

I know for that I for one slow down with passengers in the car. Even if they want to go for a hoon, I won't.

I agree something needs to be done about new drivers, but these measures are wrong in almost every way :p

Personally I'd up the difficulty of the driving test massively:
  • Have a CBT-type day on a skid pan before you can start learning
  • Motorway driving
  • Minimum number of hours tuition
  • Probably some other stuff too :p

But I wouldn't stop at the test:

  • Retests every 5 years
  • Zero tolerance for alcohol whilst driving

By doing that we remove half the drivers from the road and stop the bad new drivers before they get a chance :p I've solved congestion, the environment and the price of petrol in one go :D
 
Young Drivers need to be shown how easy it is to lose control and what the consequences are.

They need to be scared into not speeding. They need to be shown and told how if they lose control and hit a tree they won't be coming back like in a video game.
 
I think the only thing that could be done is limting the number of passengers.

I notice a lot of lads crammed into tiny cars, racing around town looking 'cool' in front of their mates. If passenger numbers were limited to say 1 passenger + driver, it may stop the idiots 'showing off'

but on the flip side, its not necessarily the youngest drivers who do this. Its impossible to control
 
Brookert said:
I think the only thing that could be done is limting the number of passengers.

I notice a lot of lads crammed into tiny cars, racing around town looking 'cool' in front of their mates. If passenger numbers were limited to say 1 passenger + driver, it may stop the idiots 'showing off'

but on the flip side, its not necessarily the youngest drivers who do this. Its impossible to control
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I think that'd make matters worse. Four young "lads" desire to get between A and B, previously they could all travel in one car, but now they have to take two cars. And they will race against each other, far more dangerously than they could ever be "showing off"
 
Extra cumpolsory training whether it be Pass Plus, IAM etc seems like a good option.

Also making X amount of hours minimum tuition complusory as well. You may well be able to pass the test after say 20 hours of tuition. But having a forced 30 gives you an extra 10 hours more experience.

Experience and awareness is what makes safe drivers, not small underpowered cars.
 
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