Driving age!

Chestnut_filly14

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I'm totally with you - I'm fourteen and completely obsessed with cars, I absolutely cannot wait to get behind the wheel, and it's disgusting!

I can almost see why they want to raise the actual driving limit, but the test is hard enough as it is and making it more expensive is just going to encourage more of these "boy -racers" to ditch the lessons and get some unqualified to teach them.

When will the government stop mollycoddling and start sorting out their system? More laws DON'T HELP! Maybe if they started reviewing the old ones [and fast] things might get sorted!

[*ooooo* get me on my high horse!]

x
 

*hic*

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I'm going to sound very pompous here but when you have passed your test and hopefully become a safe driver with a hundred thousand miles or so under your belt you will appreciate what the govermnment is trying to do. It's NOT about raising the age, read the article, it's intending that training should be tougher and more thorough and will take most people a year to do - you can still get your provisional licence at 17 as now, it's just that it will PROBABLY take a year now to pass your final test.

If that stops any more of my friends and acquaintances losing their children in the first few months that they hold their full liecences then I'm all for it. My own daughter has just applied for her provisional licence and if all goes to plan with have her text by the end of July - she won't be driving without supervision for some time after that until I am confident she can manage the car under as many different circumstances as we can arrange.

edited to add: Good luck with your test - but remember that you still have one heck of a lot of learning to do in order to become a good and experienced driver
 

Hels_Bels

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yes i no they want to make safe drivers, but really is a year necessary think of the money! i have already spent a fortune on lessons and only have one a week! when i pass i will be a safe driver because i dont want to put others lifes at risk! It's already tough enough and doesn't help when there closing down the test centres! i still think it's outrageous!
 

weevil

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[ QUOTE ]
yes i no they want to make safe drivers, but really is a year necessary think of the money!

[/ QUOTE ]
Well obviously they think that more time is necessary. You can teach someone to pass their test but that does not mean that they will be a safe driver.
As for money, if you can't afford driving lessons then how will you afford a car, tax, insurance, petrol etc...
 

Abbeygale

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Hels_Bels - I understand what you are saying - and I really like the fact that you want to be a safe driver - this is the first step to being a good and safe driver. However, it does take a lot more than good intentions to be a good safe driver.

The driving test as it is now operates on the basis that the test you take proves that you are safe to go and carry on your learning experience on your own. What it seems that the propsed new ideas mean that the lessons and test would work more like an NVQ - so you have to get stuff signed off - so you would be doing a lot more learning about being out on the roads - and so would have more experience and hours behind the wheel before you allowed loose out on the roads on your own!

I can completely understand how frustrating it must be for you - but from what I read in the article I think that it certainly "should" help reduce accidents through lack of experience. No-one will ever stop accidents from stupid people behind the wheel.
 

JessPickle

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I just think if they want to implement this they need to try and drive down (excuse pun!) the price of driving lessons. Teenagers are not that likely to have enough money to pay for a years lessons. I paid for my 36 hours and that was a struggle!

To be honest I think if someone is going to be unsafe how ever many lessons they have they will always be wreckless, its just personality and showing off! when people pass there test many people are just cocky. I got to a college full of idiots that wrote of there car in the first week, they ended up having a years worth of lessons before that because they failed it obviously made no difference.

I have to say I think only people who passed will say they agree and if they were not in the position to allready hold a driving liscence they would feel very differently. Also they imply they were not safe to drive when they passed!

I consider myself a safe driver, alongside lessons I practised with my parents and am very wary and not at all cocky, I did it in 36 hours, and would have hated to take a year!
 

JessPickle

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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
yes i no they want to make safe drivers, but really is a year necessary think of the money!

[/ QUOTE ]
Well obviously they think that more time is necessary. You can teach someone to pass their test but that does not mean that they will be a safe driver.
As for money, if you can't afford driving lessons then how will you afford a car, tax, insurance, petrol etc...

[/ QUOTE ]

seriously driving lessons are extortionate, mine were the cheapest around my area at £18.50 an hour (student rate) but places like BSM charge £25 an hour and extra for mock tests that is something that needs to be looked at before this. Also friends that have learnt with BSM seem to be the most nervous drivers! they were taken on dual carriageways before they had clutch control with the instructor "doing the clutch" and them steering and accelerating then people wonder why accidents increase!

Also no one will get a chance to save for car, petrol, insurance if they have to spent so much on lessons!
 

Chestnut_filly14

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I think the money is going to be a huge issue

Someone above mentioned affording petrol, car, tax, insurance which sickens me again.

Why do they keep making motorists lives hellishly expensive? It's absolutely deplorable, fuel has hit £5.00 a gallon and Mr. Darling has thrown more and more taxes at the millions of road-users in Britain.

Cars and driving in general have become a necessity in Britain; making them more expensive is just annoying - not preventing anything!

x
 

weevil

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seriously driving lessons are extortionate

[/ QUOTE ]
So is petrol - and they don't give student rates for that
grin.gif
 

suestowford

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[ QUOTE ]

I have to say I think only people who passed will say they agree and if they were not in the position to allready hold a driving liscence they would feel very differently. Also they imply they were not safe to drive when they passed!


[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think I was safe when I passed my test, I certainly didn't feel confident. I can remember someone saying to me just after I'd passed, 'now you will learn how to drive, not how to pass the test'.
I can see how frustrating it must be to new drivers, but I do think this is not too bad an idea, a sort of extended probationary period of progressive learning. It is indeed expensive to learn to drive, it always has been, but driving itself costs as much as a lesson a week, if not more, these days.
 

JM07

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I'd personally like to see it raised to 21....with newly qualified drivers staying on a "P" plate for 12 months....
 

Hels_Bels

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well it's all fair enough for u lot that have passed! i was dying to lern and money is a big issue! i still think it's not right! if people are going to be mad they will be wen there 21! it's really not going to make any difference!
 

Abbeygale

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I don't think that driving lessons being expensive is a new thing - its always been a lot of money to have lessons and take your test! I am sure that prices have gone up more recently - but that is mainly due to fuel prices - which have a lot to answer for, for a lot of prices going up.

I am quite sure that I wouldn't have been happy if the lessons and test had been changed before I had taken my test - it is frustrating - but I still think that it sounds like a good idea - obviously this is just a newspaper article so probably doesn't have all the facts anyway!


JM07 - the only reason that I don't agree with compulsory "p" plates on new drivers is that some (stupid yes) more experienced drivers will try to target it them - the same way that some drivers will target a car with L plates on - I like the idea of warning other drivers of a new driver. I don't necessarily think that raising the age is the ultimate answer - but more awareness and compulsory hours behind the wheel before a licence is granted is a great idea.
 

weevil

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Actually I don't drive (though am about to start having lessons again) so I know exactly how expensive it is. But driving is a privilege not an automatic right and as I said before if you can't afford to learn to drive how will you afford to run a car?
 

JM07

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[ QUOTE ]
well it's all fair enough for u lot that have passed! i was dying to lern and money is a big issue! i still think it's not right! if people are going to be mad they will be wen there 21! it's really not going to make any difference!

[/ QUOTE ]


maybe so...

but when i learned to drive, there wasn't the "boy/girl racer" culture..the "i dont give a sh1t about ins" culture..


things ARE different now..and unless the powers that be stop pussyfooting around with the idiot under 25's drivers, then i'm all for keeping the idiots off the road...at the expense of the "sensible" few...sorry..
 
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Donkeymad

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Tend to agree with JM07 here. I have to say, that after JUST 36 hours, you have little in the way of experience. From what I understand the new ideas are to give learners more experience, taking in more difficult situations, thus giving a better idea of what to expect in more situations.
Maybe it would be an idea to make part of learning to drive, having to watch graphic videos and photos of serious car accidents.
 

Abbeygale

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As I said before Hels_Bels - I do understand completely where you are coming from and how frustrating it must be to be learning to drive when these changes are being threatened to come in. I'm sure that you will be a very safe and considerate driver when you pass your test - but unfortunately as with a lot of things there are a few new driver idiots who ruin it for people who are considerate in their cars

Good luck with your test! When is it?
 

mememe

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having passed my test just over a month ago i dont think its such a bad idea. i only had 5 'paid for' lessons and when i got out on the road on my own i realised there was soooo much i didnt know!
blush.gif
yes something does definitaly have to be done about the price its horendous! as for petrol thats just a joke and the governement are greedy b*****ds ..... dont get me started on the government!
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Skhosu

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I would be interested to see the stats for whether NI or England has more deaths shortly after tests, our system isn't perfect but I'd be interested to see if it works AT all, if not, it should be scrapped. If it does, maybe it should be implemented in england? I was horrified to meet L drives going down fast busy roads driving today, just imagine they panic or aren't ready etc.
 

henryhorn

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Sorry but I've been driving for over 40 years and have seen lots of changes in that time, so I reckon I can give my thoughts too.
When I passed my test there were nothing like the sheer numbers of vehicles on the roads, and little of the recklessness we see all the time now.
The worst drivers are in my experience young WOMEN. They drive towards narrow gaps at high speed and virtually shut their eyes to get through, leaving me amazed they managed to steer with closed eyes..
shocked.gif

They drive agressively and mostly with little regard for things like horseboxes, seemingly thinking I can stop dead with several horses on board plus the weight of the lorry.
The young men seem a little more aware that they could hurt themselves, whereas the female drivers I see round here think they're bloody invincible!
I remember shortly after passing my test I had a very old Landrover, and attempting to overtake a large lorry going downhill. Now at no time had my instructor ever explained a laden lorry gathers speed downhill quickly and I only just escaped with my life. that's the sort of thing inexperienced drivers need to know, not what signs etc mean.
Driving where I live is a skill believe me, negotiating 8 feet wide single track roads in a box when you might meet a 40 ton continental truck on your side of the road on a blind bend takes some doing, and is as hard as driving in London traffic in many ways.
We appear to be creating a new race of kamikazi young drivers, so for me, taking a longer more intensive test is nothing but good news..
Of course had I been 17 it would have been bad news...
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Spot_the_Risk

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Not getting into this discussion, but as an aside regarding costs, the cost of your lesson includes the instructors time, vehicle fuel, maintenance, tax etc etc. Now think about how much an hours riding lesson on a horse comparable to your instructors car would be - we would be talking a schoolmaster here, and a BHSII. I haven't had a lesson for years, but I bet it would be more than £18.50.
 
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xspiralx

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Definitely see no point whatsoever in raising the age limit to 21 - if you are an adult by 18, old enough to get married, own a house etc, you are old enough to drive. New drivers who get into accidents do so because they are inexperienced, or naive, not because they're 17 or 18 as opposed to 21.

Largely I think the changes are a good idea, but putting up the prices is a complete scam and is ridiculous. I've been driving for about 6 months now, and I have to say, when I first passed my test after roughly 34 hours lessons, I was very vulnerable. My lessons taught me how to drive around the test routes, how to manoevre [sort of] and how to deal with a few roundabouts and junctions etc.

However I never had to park between two cars or manoevre in tight spaces, I got very little experience of driving in unknown places and on fast roads, and all this meant that when I passed, got my car and was driving solo, I was still essentially learning. Infact, I still am. I made silly mistakes and in some cases I've been lucky.

I think overall, that increasing the influence of "real driving" in lessons would be a good thing. Teaching young drivers how to cope in difficult and unknown situations would be very beneficial imo.

On the other hand, people are very quick to criticise new drivers, and yet some of the worst pieces of driving I've encountered are by people who've been driving many years and have got overconfident - overtaking in stupid places, driving aggressively, tailgating and failing to indicate at all.
 

YorksG

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I leaarnt to drive quite some years ago, some professional lessons, but mostly with my dad. His idea of getting me to be a safe driver was to make me drive in all road conditions, including going over Holme Moss (where the TV transmitters are, with ditches down both sides of a narrow road) in the snow! His philosphy was that I should never be stuck and as I could not control the weather I had better learn when I was with some-one. He was absolutely right. I learnt in Cortina estate, ours was the only drive on the street not widened and the car was always reversed onto the drive, if I drove it off the drive, then I put it back as I found it. I can now manouver in most situations and looking at how people manage (or not) in the car park at work, I think my dad had the right idea.
smile.gif

I also think that people should have motorway lessons before they are let loose on them.
 

conniegirl

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Old people are some of the worst drivers ever, i live in an area where 60% of the population tends to be over 65. they are so bloody dangerous that most of them need taking off the road. Dont even get me started on the little old dears who sit in the middle lane of the motorway doing 30mph, your on them so fast that it nearly always causes someone to have to do some very fast manouvering.

Also i passed my test in 2003, ive since had 3 accidents non of which were my fault all of them where caused by the supposedly older and more experianced driver! the 1st one forced me into a bank (ie grassy one with a wall in it, not hte one you get money from) because he didnt know the width of his car (aincient old man), the 2nd had been drinking and took my wing mirror off dispite haveing 3ft on his other side and me haveing my other wingmirror in the hedge (i would estimate mid 40's with a big fat executive saloon).
the final one was bad enough that i had to be cut out of the car, had several injuries and had a lovely case of PTSD which stopped me driving and practicaly made me housebound for nearly a year. this accident was caused by a 34 yearold man who was driving a company van, he had obviously decided that doing 60mph on a country lane with blind tight corners was a good idea. he hit me head on (i was doing around 20mph) If i hadnt been in such a good car i would be dead (even the firemen who cut me out said the same).

so let me see thats 3 accidents all caused by so called experianced drivers, maybe they should make you retake your test every 5 years or something but that would cause alot more ho har from the population so lets blame it all on young drivers. i personaly have found that it is the so called experianced drivers who get cockey that cause the problems and i know of quite a few older drivers i personaly would love to get off the road including my aunt who drove for 3 weeks with her automatic locked into 3rd gear because she didnt realise and couldnt work out why the cars revs were so high and why it wouldnt do more then 40 on the motorway, she deffinatley doesnt know where the fog lights are located and god help her if she ever got a car that wasnt the absolute basic model all those buttons would totaly confuse her. Just because you passed your test along time ago and have several thousand miles under your belt does not mean that you deserve to be on the road or that you are a good driver, it just means youve managed not to kill yourself or others whilst doing that milage (I did 20 thousand miles in the first year after i passed my test, it doesnt mean i was then or am now a good driver in fact after the last accident i have been a nervous wreck on the roads!)

If you increase the hours needed to pass your test all you will do is encourage those that cant afford lessons to drive without a liscence.
My younger brother is 16 now, he has duel citazenship, if this comes into force he will go and do his test in the other country (part of the EU) and then there will be nothing stopping him from exchanging that liscence for a full british one.

If you introduce a system where you have to have a years worth of lessons then only the very rich will be able to learn to drive!
 

smokeybabes

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I think the idea of a log book and being signed off for competency is a good idea. For example someone could learn over the summer and may never have to drive at night or in the rain then suddenly they pass their test and have completely different conditions to drive in that they don't know how to handle. Also, for example, during my 27hrs of lessons i never once met a horse so effectively wouldn't have really known how to approach and pass a horse if i hadn't been horsey!
Not sure about making it more expensive, but more experience can only be a good thing.
I also think newly qualified drivers should be restricted in the engine size of the car they can have for a few years after they pass.
 

FarthingwoodFox

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I totally agree.
I disagree with Spiral - I didnt pass my test until I was 21 and I have had no accidents.
I think that the older you are the less you take risks, the less you take risks the safer you are.
Generally speaking buying a house or getting married usually doesn't result in killing someone - driving like a tit certainly does.
Make the test harder and up the age limit - its only a good thing.
 
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