Raise the age of driving to 18

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Originally Posted by Brown, Jon Brow

Lack of common sense isn't just lacking from driving though. It is a much larger social problem. With all of the health and safety/nanny state culture we have today people don't have to use common sense because they are protected from any potential danger. So when the time comes for common sense to be applied, they don't have the ability to apply any.

I don't know how to make the driving test harder. I'd vote for having to do all 4 maneuvers on the test. I know people who have passed and they can only do two of them, and those were the two that they got on their test.

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I don't think that the ubiquitous health and safety/nanny state argument really applies in this case, because bad driving by young people really started to become a bigger problem before many would suggest that this culture (if it exists) developed to its current extent.

Your second paragraph rather hits the nail on the head. People often say that the driving test should be made harder, and probably rightly so, but how? To do so would probably involve a huge amount of bureaucracy, and a massive number of additional driving instructors, to name but two potential problems. Some sort of psychometric testing is another idea, but I bet a lot of people would object to it, and probably with good grounds. Again, the sheer number of people being tested would require a lot of resources. What's more, giving people motorway lessons, as is often suggested, would be rather hard to achieve in many areas where people live far from the nearest motorway. I'm not saying it shouldn't be done, merely pointing out a practical problem.

raising the age to 18 seems like a great idea to me.

It should also be mandatory for new license holders to display 'P' plates on there vehicle for a year, in addition a 0% alcohol limit should be introduced.

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Originally Posted by Stuartf12007

It should also be mandatory for new license holders to display 'P' plates on there vehicle for a year.

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What difference would that make? Apart from other drivers taking advantage new drivers. Will it make the car heavier and slow it down?

"I'll cut in front of him because he's a new driver", "it doesn't matter if I crash into him because I'll blame him as he's a new driver"

The whole point of the 'P' plate is for people who have passed their test and are worried about stalling at traffic lights and holding others up. If you see they have a 'P' plate your less likely to show aggression towards them.

Experience is a bigger factor than age. If the driving age is raised to 18, there will probably be just as many accidents since the 18 year olds would be just as experienced as the 16 year olds right now. In the U.S. teens need to spend 30 hrs in a class room, 12 hrs taking driving lessons, and some more time practicing with their parents. It would be a good idea to increase the number of hours driving on the road, even if at the expense of the class room lessons. It's easier said than done since more driving hours either means higher prices for lessons or an increase in taxes, so it is something that really needs to be thought out.
Making the road test tougher is a good idea, but it should still be easy enough that the majority of the people who take it will pass.

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Originally Posted by Brown, Jon Brow

What difference would that make? Apart from other drivers taking advantage new drivers. Will it make the car heavier and slow it down?

"I'll cut in front of him because he's a new driver", "it doesn't matter if I crash into him because I'll blame him as he's a new driver"

The whole point of the 'P' plate is for people who have passed their test and are worried about stalling at traffic lights and holding others up. If you see they have a 'P' plate your less likely to show aggression towards them.

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http://img.drive.com.au/drive_images...pPlate_m_m.jpg

In practice it makes bugger all difference but does let you know on the motorway that they are restricted to slower speeds.

It's mandatory to display P Plates for 3 years in NSW. For the first year, drivers are restricted to 90km/h and then for two years to 100km/h (the highest posted motorway speeds are 110km/h)

Anywhere where the speed is less and from a practical standpoint there's really no difference at all. If everyone is doing 60km/h down the same stretch of road then it's almost a non-event.

I don't see the point in speed restrictions, as doing 60mph over Hardknott pass is going to certainly get you killed, while doing 60mph on the M1 is about as safe as you can get while driving.

There does seem to be an increasing nanny stateism, and drivers expecting to be told what to do, rather than using common sense. e.g. The road from Keswick to Honister has a 40mph limit, where other roads elsewhere would be NSL (60mph), now 40mph is about as fast as any sensible driver will be going on that road anyway, so we shouldn't need speed limits to tell us that.

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Originally Posted by Mark

I don't see the point in speed restrictions, as doing 60mph over Hardknott pass is going to certainly get you killed, while doing 60mph on the M1 is about as safe as you can get while driving.

There does seem to be an increasing nanny stateism, and drivers expecting to be told what to do, rather than using common sense. e.g. The road from Keswick to Honister has a 40mph limit, where other roads elsewhere would be NSL (60mph), now 40mph is about as fast as any sensible driver will be going on that road anyway, so we shouldn't need speed limits to tell us that.

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The trouble is that a fair number of drivers probably do need to be told what to do. It's all very well then saying that the test needs to be harder, but in what ways? No-one seems to be able to answer that in a way that is practical.

There is no doubt, though, that road planners and highways departments now assume most drivers to be stupid. You only have to look at some of the absurd junction designs, changes to the simple roundabout and the proliferation of pointless road markings and signage to see this. Yet whenever extra signage really is needed, it often never seems to be erected!

I wouldn't expect a harder driving test to reduce young road deaths. Most road deaths involving young people happen at night with drugs and alcohol as contributing factors. There is never just one person involved in these accidents, it is usually a group of 8 people squished into a Corsa and the driver tries to show off to them, by taking a corner at 80mph whilst steering with his feet or something.

I think the American idea of classroom tuition is a good one, and not just on subjects such as braking distances and hazard awareness. But also covering wider topics such as map reading, route planning, knowing what the different signs mean (not just the warning triangles).

How to make the test harder?

That's easy enough, if you think about it. Introduce a trainer's 'score card' system where the lessons a new driver has taken are listed and any little niggles the instrucor had are noted. Make it legally binding, of course, like the schools exam system, so instructors aren't liable to cheat.

Doesn't take any more test people at all, doesn't cost much to introduce, plus it makes sure the learner has had some form of trained instruction (I suggest a minimum of six or ten hours) rather than had their mum teach them her bad habbits the week before they're tested. Anyone who really wants to drive will pay for six or ten lessons. The only real cost to the authorities would be some mystery shoppers (people who test the instructors without them knowing) to make sure offering bribes and so on isn't common.

Adding to the written test would also help. I didn't have to do it, but did some pretend ones with a friend who was taking her test. It was too easy - I passed without any revision at all. That's not good enough, I should have had to think hard and have forgotten some of it - but instead worked out the answers far too quickly. Didn't feel tested at all :mark: