Will You Look At That Silly Young Bug*er! (Should the minimum driving age be raised to 21?)

Name: kenjohn

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Product:	Should the minimum driving age be raised to 21?
Date:	13/02/08 (879 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Could potentially save thousands of lives, both young and old .

Disadvantages: The laws required border on infringing on people's civil liberties .

The annual carnage that is wrought on the highways and byways of the UK and Ireland by poor and downright dangerous drivers is absolutely staggering. If even a fraction of the number of people who suffer an untimely death as a result of road traffic accidents were to meet their deaths by any other means, then there would be a public outcry and people protesting in the streets. The media would have field day, and would be howling at the Government of the day to take immediate and drastic action to remedy the situation.

But people simply love their cars, and are generally unwilling to admit that there is a growing problem with road safety, and that they themselves might possibly be a part of that problem. When was the last time you actually heard someone admitting that they are a lousy driver, or could do with brushing up their driving skills? The vast majority of drivers simply have a total blind spot when it comes to recognising faults in their own driving ability, and none more so than young, inexperienced motorists.

Don't get me wrong! This review isn't meant to be a tirade against young drivers, as there are many middle-aged and older motorists who's driving is equally as poor and dangerous as young drivers. (In some cases, even worse!) But statistics show that young drivers between the ages of 17 to 21 are FAR more likely to be involved in an accident that involves death or serious injury than their older and more experienced counterparts.

So the question just has to be posed. Are we allowing kids to drive on the public highway at far too young an age? And should the Government consider changing the law, and raising the minimum age for driving from 17 to 21?

Before everyone starts getting all hot under the collar, and pointing out to me that you can actually get married and start raising a family at only 16 years of age, and that you can vote at 18 years of age, let's first consider some hard facts about young drivers. Drivers under the age of 21 make up around 8% of the total driving population, but are responsible for over 11% of ALL accidents, a figure that increases to 17% for all accidents that involve serious injury or death.

Young men are far more dangerous behind the wheel than young women, causing twice as many fatal accidents. This is probably down to two factors. Young men drive twice as many miles as their female counterparts on an annual basis, and they do so at far higher average speeds. So when they do have an accident, it's more likely to result in either death or serious injury. (Michael Shumacher and Lewis Hamilton have a lot to answer for!) Put simply, young people generally take more risks than older drivers!

What is interesting is that while it is clear that the chances of you having an accident decrease the older you get, gaining on-the-road experience would appear to be a more important factor than chronological age. Insurance company statistics show that with all drivers (young AND old) the chance of you being in a crash decreases by an enormous 47% after you have a couple of years driving experience under your belt.

So maybe the way to reduce accidents isn't simply to raise the driving age, but to adopt a system that is already in place in the Six Counties of Northern Ireland. Once a driver passes their test they must display "R" (restricted) plates for the next two years, which limits the speed at which they can legally drive to 45mph. This is one effective and immediate step that could be taken almost immediately, which would have an instantaneous effect on the accident rate, and consequently result in many lives being saved.

Another area that could be improved by new legislation concerns driving instruction. Currently, a young driver can legally drive a car so long as they have a qualified driver sitting in the passenger seat beside them. So you can have a situation where a youngster is insured to drive their parents' car, (as a named driver) which they can then take out onto the open road with only one of their young pals who has already passed the driving test 'instructing' them. (The blind leading the blind?) A better system would be to introduce a system where a person can only take instruction from a fully qualified, experienced instructor, who must first be passed and registered by the Government to set up a driving school.

Here in the Republic of Ireland anyone with a provisional license can legally drive a car on their own (with no qualified driver beside them) on the same day they obtain their first provisional. (Although that will change later this year when our law finally comes in to line with the rest of Europe and the UK) But for the moment it is theoretically feasible for a 17-year-old (with wealthy parents) to jump behind the wheel of a high powered sports car on the very day of their 17th birthday and roar off into the horizon without ever having taken any lessons whatsoever! How clever is that?

The driving test itself badly needs to be stiffened up in order to make it much more difficult to obtain a driving license in the first place. Currently, 60% of young males, and 55% of young women, pass their driving test at the first attempt. The current driving test they sit doesn't include any sort of testing of their ability to handle a car at speed on a motorway or dual carriageway, or what to do if they get themselves into a skid! In fact, they are banned by law from driving a car on a motorway until AFTER they have passed the test. Yet the very next day they can legally drive any car they choose on the motorway at high speed, something they have never done before. (Always assuming they can afford the insurance, that is!)

I recall with horror nearly killing myself and three of my friends not long after I passed my own driving test. I had plenty of driving experience, having driven cars since I was about twelve years old, but I DIDN'T have experience of driving at high speed on a motorway! We were on our way to a football match in Dunfermline, over the Forth Road Bridge from Edinburgh, when a front tyre blew out on my father's Triumph Herald at about 80mph. I lost control totally, and the car spun in a full circle three times before I finally managed to bring it to a stop. It was only by the grace of God that it didn't either turn over or hit another vehicle. What's my point in relating this story? Simple really. If the same thing happened to me today, I would know exactly what to do to retain control of the car. I've since passed the Institute of Advanced Motorists' Driving test, and also taken a police "defensive driving" course, which included intensive training on a skid pan.

Another possible solution is to place legal restrictions on the number of young people who can travel together in a car; maybe only the driver and one passenger? Young males in particular, with their high levels of testosterone, have a tendency to show off in front of their mates, and ESPECIALLY if a young lady they fancy is in their company. By restricting the number of passengers they can carry to one, at least fewer people would lose their lives if and when an accident did occur.

A curfew system could also be considered. A large percentage of fatal accidents happen at night, and especially between the hours of 11PM and 2.30AM. (After the pubs close; coincidence, do you think?) So why not make it illegal for a person under the age of 21 to drive a car after say 10PM? I fully realise that this sounds very draconian, but if it saved hundreds of lives annually, then surely it's worth considering. A pilot scheme run by a couple of the insurance companies here in the Republic of Ireland is doing just this. In order to qualify for a large reduction in their annual insurance premium, the young driver must agree to a curfew. They must also fit a GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) system to their car, so the insurance company can monitor both the curfew, and the speed at which they drive. (It's working well, by the way)

The law could get tougher on young drivers who are convicted of motoring offences within the first couple of years of passing their driving test. If a young driver was convicted of say speeding (over 10mph over the limit) or careless or reckless driving, then they could be made to re-sit the test. If they are involved in an accident that is shown to have been caused by bad driving on their part the same thing could apply. The law on drink driving could also be changed, and a zero limit introduced immediately for anyone under the age of 21.

Finally, to answer the question posed in the heading. Should the Government raise the legal driving age from 17 to 21?
Well, I'm not 100% sure what I think, to be honest. Perhaps they should try some of the suggestions I've outlined here first, and then assess the situation for a while, before they come to a definite final decision. If a young person isn't allowed to drive until they are 21, then maybe all that would end up doing is deferring the problem for a few years. Perhaps a new driver would turn out to be just as dangerous at 21 as they are at 17? Who knows for sure?

These are just a few random thoughts I have on the problem of deaths on the road caused by young and inexperienced drivers. I'll be very interested in hearing your own thoughts on the topic, either in the comments box, or in an review of your own.

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Copyright KenJ

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Summary: New laws have the potential to save many lives