Seems Im a bit late to this thread, but here's mp 2p in any case:
The test should be a *lot* harder. In fact, like the pass plus scheme - which involves town, motorway, countryside, night-time driving, as well as driving in different weather conditions. An instructor sits beside you, and determines whether you can drive well enough to be given a driving license - car's are indeed lethal weapons (the reason I license is needed in the 1st place I'm led to believe).
Retests every 5-10 years or so would sort out the bad habits, as people would have to conciously stop them developing, else they'll fail their next test.
And in reaction to MYBs train of thought-
With regard to failing the test - I remember on my driving test, my legs and arms were shaking the whole way through...reversing was nigh on impossible as my clutch foot was shaking so much! I managed to keep myself in check, however, and pass first time. Some of my friends - who are perfectly responsible drivers - took 3 or 4 goes, as they got a bad case of nerves (literally being sick before the test). Having failed doesn't make them a bad driver.
And with regard to getting rid of the young numptees - I personally don't believe it's the majority of young drivers who drive like lunatics - I believe it's a minority, but enough to push us (young males) ahead in the insurance claim statistics. But as has been said before, by manipulating graphs - *absulotely anything* can be proved with statistics.
I remember when I first passed my test, and was giving a couple of friends a lift to a night out, I thought "OMG, I have someone's child in my car...If I crash, and they die, how will that make me feel?" Therefore, with friends in the car, I pay extra attention to driving safely (note, not slowly!) There are some young males who tend to think they're invincible in the car, and there are some middle aged people who think they're invincible in a car.
It's all about maturity, and people mature at different mates. E.g. - having left home, and living in a large shared house at the moment, with ages ranging from 18-27 - after a few weeks of not telling, I asked my new friends how old they thought I was. I am 18, but they all believed I was between 20 and 23. Similarly, I know some 28 year olds, who (if not for their state of physical development) I would swear blind were still 15.
So please don't put all young male drivers into one box. I've been driving a year and a half, have probably covered about 12,000-15,000 miles in this time, and not had an accident. I've not come close to rolling my car off the road into a hedge, or killing a child as he leaps from behind a car. It's essential that I have a car, to travel 320 miles to and from my uni to home at the beginning and end of each term, with my things, and to be able to get myself from place of residence to place of study each morning. And as a (sometime) working musician, I need to be able to get myself to and from jobs - often leaving a pub in a secluded spot at 1am to travel home. If all drivers under 25 had their licenses removed on the basis of being immature, I wouldn't be able to perform in my chosen field of work. And getting out on the road, making my own way to events, having to time keep, and plan journeys does, imo, induce a certain degree of extra maturity in a typical person.
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