Rules changing for new drivers?

Another stupid nanny state idea. Why can’t we teach people to stop acting like tossers instead of banning everything to cover up the real problem.

Upset you can’t smoke? Well good news sir now you can only drive a 950cc euro blob piece of junk.
 
I think it's a reasonable idea, I wouldn't be bothered either way.

Except that road rallys usually take place after midnight. 12 cars etc you may get away with you tend to be done by 11, but you'd have to get a move on back from the finish. But it would exclude young drivers from full on road rallys and I don't like that idea, it wouldn't be good for the uni motor club...
 
ive got an idea, teach them how to drive properly and prove responsibility over a longer period of time.

less drivers within this age range yet more fatal accidents. something wrong with the teaching there imo.
 
Morba said:
ive got an idea, teach them how to drive properly and prove responsibility over a longer period of time.

less drivers within this age range yet more fatal accidents. something wrong with the teaching there imo.
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I agree, but changing attitude is the hardest thing to teach as you have to attack peoples belief structure...

The problem with people driving too fast and racing is attitude not car control... teach them better car control they will think they are MORE invincible...

;)
 
I agree with the nanny state Idea. This government is just throwing money and people at everything and none of it will fix the problem. Proper training is the only way. Make IAM or similar compulsary, 75% at least of the people on the roads would need A LOT more tuition to pass, and that would actually make it safer, rather that making everyone drive at 25 mph holding everyone else up, also compounding the single biggest thing wrong with todays roads "Speed Kills".
******* bad drivers kill, slow people hold everyone else up and cause congestion and silly driving. Teach people to drive at or at least near the speed limit safely!
And before anyone says it, it will make the idiots drive faster thinking their even more invincible, but idiots are everywhere and thats something you cant change. I'd rather have trained idiots that untrained ones!
 
I think there should be somthing like a compulsory skidpan/track session. I got a free one when I bought my car and I wish I had done something similar before I had a crash as I would've known how to control the vehicle properly. This is the main problem as the first time someone experiences no traction/skidding may very well be the last time so if it can be done safely somewhere so you know what it feels like I think it would cut accident rates by quite a lot (well wouldv'e cut it by 1 at least ;))
 
i agree with the advanced test things

i like to drive fast round the twisties but i havent go a clue if im doing it properly, i didnt get a lesson where my instructor said "right today we're going to have a blast around the backroads" shame really;):(
 
Dr Who said:
They have done it on motorcycles... if you get caught with an unrestricted bike, nice little points loading... and yes it would need to be phased in
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Don't know why you quoted me mate, I was talking about the link in the OP about stopping younger drivers from driving at night..
 
When I was chatting to the Policeman after my accident on the 1st Jan he said that lift-off oversteer was a very common cause of accidents

The thing is that you're not taught what not to do - you end up doing the wrong thing, crashing and learning from it

He also thought that the IAM test should be compulsory.

Yes if you're not driving on the limit then you won't get yourself into these situations. The problem is that youngsters do drive fast so better tuition on how to properly control the car at speed would help
 
More Police presence would help.

Last night I met with a few friends near to where all the boyracers hang out, and all night I didn't see a single copper!

They are always out in force on a Fri/Sat/Sunday but never during the week!
 
I can see them introducing the system that's in place in Northern Ireland. When you pass in NI you have to display 'R' plates in your front and rear windscreen for a period of one year from the pass date. For that year you are a restricted driver and are not permitted to exceed 45mph in any circumstance, even on the motorway. Most of the time it isn't so bad but when you get stuck behind a few R drivers doing 45mph on the motorway in both lanes it gets very frustrating.
They reckon restricting new drivers saves hundreds of lives every year which IMO is a bit optimistic. Most new drivers don't stick to the limit, I myself didn't even display the 'R' plates but had I been caught I'd have faced 6 points, i.e. a ban.

Nice idea on paper but impractical in the real world.
 
I don't know what to suggest really, evidently there has been an increase in deaths amongst the young and something needs to be done.

The examples I have seen are down to drink driving and then the problems have increased due to having 4-5 people in the car. Keeping young drivers off the road at night would help as they would less likely be on a social trip and showing off to mates or with everyone having a drink.

Keeping young drivers off more powerful cars... will this work? I don't know if people are going to race or rag it they are going to do it and find the limit in whatever car. Are the chances of living in an accident really going to be less in a 60mph Clio accident than a 70mph Mondeo accident. Most smaller less powerful cars can still get up to a decent pace! What about when the restriction runs out and kev jumps out of his 40hp 1 litre fiesta straight into his 200hp celica at 20 that he can now afford.

The boy racers seem to be the most obvious target but there are a lot of people who seem to enjoy there hanging around in carparks without needing to drive /race like idiots and have a smash.
 
Im a 19 year old male driver, and i have to say i get sick and tired of constantly being lassoed and rounded up into a stereotype that says 'All young drivers are reckless, untrained pratts!'. Every day i see many more elderly drivers pulling reckless manoeuvres and causing far more potential accidents that drivers such as myself, yet to impose more limits on this group would cause an uproar.

The other day as I drove back from Worthing on the south coast using a dual carriage way was it the 19 year old street racers sitting in their moded Civics over taking me at excess of 90-100mph? No, the first car was a middle aged women in her Mercedes, the second was a middle aged man in his four wheel drive. Another car moved in and out of lanes without so much as a blink of indication, driven by an elderly ‘Country kitchen buffet’ couple. My point being its easy to cast a group into stereotypes but within all groups are members who have the potential to be dangerous drivers.

Do I sometimes drive fast. Yes, I firmly believe the majority do. 80% of the time I drive down my 30MPH road the trail of cars in front are doing 40MPH. Do I drive too fast, ie dangerously? Never. For one, I drive a focus 1.6 which is an excellent car in terms of handling, and over the 2+ years I have been driving it I have come to learn its capabilites precicsely. I never drive out of my abilities because that would be foolish. Do I endanger the life of others? Never, if im taking passengers I am always considerate over there lives.

Why the hell should I be punished/restricted for the actions of others. It seems to be a trend in this country that if they don’t like something, you simply remove it from society and hope it goes away rather than trying to stop it. Vendetta anyone? :)
 
Just think how much money the government would lose if these restrictions did take place.. tax on insurance , lower fuel usage , lower road tax. The list goes on.

Sometimes driving a more powerful car can be a safer. Generally more powerful cars have bigger breaks , larger tyres and are normally a bit bigger than a 1L corsa.

Another thing how long does it take to overtake a tractor that’s doing 40mph on an NSL road in a 1.0L saxo.. , how long does it take in a 2.0L+ car not very long.
 
Locrian said:
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Your post is wrong for several reasons :

1. Elderly drivers may cause more potental accidents but that doesn't matter since they arn't actually accidents, its the amount of them that cash that matters the most.

2. I doubt you understand its capabilities precicsely, you can only ever know what a car is going to do in a bad situation buy getting into this situation, if you have gotten into this situation on the road then by definition you are are dangorious driver.

3. Every time you get into the driving seat of a car, you have the protential to endanger peoples lifes whenever you drive its just that you don't intentinally do it.
 
I hate the idea of blanket restrictions becuase of age. This part made my blood boil:

One option put forward by the trust, which researches road safety, is for a curfew on teenagers driving late at night, when most accidents involving teenagers occur.
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I am 19 and have a group 10 car. I pay a ridiculous sum of money to keep it on the road, most of which is my high risk insurance policy. Everyone I know regards me as a safe driver. As you can see in my sig, I do not drive a stupidly modded corsa, nor do I play traffic light grand prix.

There is a problem with stupid teenagers driving dangerously. I woudn't mind harsher penalties for younger drivers as long as safe young drivers, such as myself can carry on without redicoulous restrictions.

Lets have restriction based on driving ability and attitude, rather then age.

Burnsy
 
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The problem I believe lies within the bureaucratic and retarded nature of the learning process. When you learn to drive, as with A-levels and GCSEs you learn to pass the test, not to drive well. I have seen countless examples and almost without exception, as soon as you pass your test, bad habits start to creep into your driving. This may start as something simple like letting your hands slip from the 10/11 o’clock position to resting on the bottom. Maybe you start to leave on hand on the gear stick, or you shift into neutral too early. All things that weren’t apparent in the original test but developed over time. With each new bad habit it could be argued that a persons ability to drive safely deteriorates over time. Because I have passed my test and don’t have to worry about it for a long time, I feel no need to correct any of these bad habits that I have started to acquire.

To be honest, I’m not sure that if I took my test again, now 1.5 years on I would do half as well as I did then. So my solution would be simple. Keep everything as it is now, but say that until the age of about 21 new young drivers must be re-assesed once a year to prove they are still capable of driving to a sufficient standard. This assessment wouldn’t be as retarded as the original test, like classifying clipping the curb on a manover as a seriously dangerous death defying mistakes. I mean honestly, who doesn’t mess that up once in a while.

If young people had a goal to strive towards to maintain a sufficient level of driving I don’t believe the situation would be as prevalent as it is now.
 
IF everyone was to drive like you do on your test the road would be a very very slow place, standards slip with time habbit get in, if you drive like you did on your test its imho that you have stopped your learning, learning to control a car is the easy bit you can teach someone to pass a test but you can't teach somone road craft cause thats aquired over time, you have to be in the situation to learn about it and how to deal with it.
 
restricting cars would mean restricting safety for those in the car and those that the car hits.

people would be left to drive the older cars with no toys and low safety standards.

this is not a good idea :]
 
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