See BBC news link for more info (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4596463.stm)

I lost a friend at school in a car accident. She got in the car of a newly passed driver who tried to show off by speeding around and drove into a lampost killing his three passengers. He was injured but survived although for a long time afterwards He wished he hadn't.

The news article suggests night time curfews, passenger restrictions, extra training etc. Do you think any of this would help to reduce the high numbers of fatalities from this young age group?


Loopy.

(quote from article - "In 2003, up to 24% of death by dangerous driving convictions were of drivers aged 20 and younger.")

I see nobody has replied yet so I will! :wink:

I'm 17 and I have passed my driving test. I actually passed my test at 16 and got a car from motability before my 17th birthday. I was allowed to because I'm disabled.

It's difficult, I need my car to get around and personally, I would be devastated if they put a curfew on young drivers. I don't go out much and don't tend to come back in the dead of night etc. But recently I did a play which finished at 10pm for the whole week, and had to drive back, I'd have been in trouble if I couldn't get back and would have had to resort to going back to mummy and daddy giving me lifts (which takes the whole idea of independence away again).

I also sometimes just pop down to the local 24hr tesco late at night if we need something. I can't walk down there so the car's the only way.

I am very careful, when I'm driving, I look in the rear view mirror every 6 seconds (more or less, like I was taught to) ad then to the speedometer and back to the windscreen. If I'm not sure I drive slower. I think there are actually many more teens than you think who drive like this.

However, I can see your point on a curfew, especially as you lost your friend that way. But in actual fact, I think there are a lot more careful drivers than you think. I've been out on the motorway (mum/dad driving - I'm too scared so far!) and I've seen older people speeding past doing these silly car races across the lanes. And that's older people.

The passenger restrictions, I think are probably a good idea, the more you have, the more you could be egged on. However, again, it depends on circumstances.

I think the media just publicise it if it's a young driver and they don't mention however many careful young drivers (like myself) there are.
And, if 24% of death by dangerous driving convictions were of drivers aged 20 and younger, then that means another 76% was drivers over 20...

Lottie

The link (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3993493.stm) from that page gives some scary stats too

Though, I find it a tad hard to believe as I've never known any of my friends to drink drive since I've been driving (10 years). Maybe they just asked a really dodgy 1000 people.

Lotti, unfortunately it's the minority of young drivers that cause the trouble as we all know. And, yes there are a lot of older drivers who drive just as dangerously.

Originally posted by Andy78
The link (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3993493.stm) from that page gives some scary stats too

Though, I find it a tad hard to believe as I've never known any of my friends to drink drive since I've been driving (10 years). Maybe they just asked a really dodgy 1000 people.

In the pic on that link it looks as if the copper is breathalysing the car window!

I don't believe the 1 in 4 stat either.

There's alot of young drivers that shouldn't be allowed on the roads, yes.. But there's alot (like myself who's had a full clean license with no accidents since I was 17) who can drive just as well, if not better (infact I know for a fact alot are better) than older drivers.

If this come's into play for younger drivers, why not put some restrictions in place for women and old people? To me, they're just as bad.

Gaz! Watch your mouth! I'm a teenage woman driver! What the hell would you do with me????? :o

:hihi:

To be honest I don't think any sort of curfew or compulsory "Pass Plus" tests will help. It isn't because young drivers don't know how to drive it is because they (some anyway) like to show off to their friends. Restricting passenger numbers might help but it isn't really fair to those who are sensible. I bet 99% of crashes involving young drivers are with other people in the car or driving around with other friends who have cars. From my experience even normally sensible people go a little bit crazy when they are in a car?!

The thing is with putting restrictions on a certain group of scoiety, there will always be individuals within that group that do not conform to that stereotype and consequently it would be unfair to "tar everyone with the same brush"...

On one hand, I agree that say night time restrictions on new drivers would be a good idea, as night driving is a bit different to driving in the day. However I've had to make a late night journey to the hospital to visit someone who had been admitted to AandE, and I managed to get there and back safe and sound in the early hours of the morning...

As for having lots of friends in the car, I've experienced this and yes it does get rowdy because of the novelty for them that someone can drive and they don't have to be taken places by an adult etc.. But I still check they've all got seat belts on, refuse to turn the music up loads because I need to listen for emergency vehicles etc... My friends know my rules and respect them.. If I wasn't 100% in charge of what was going off in my vehicle, it would stop and they'd get out - friends or no friends.

I'd absolutely love to impose restrictions on some younger drivers, as they are an absolute menace. EG: About 3 weeks after I first got my car, I was nearly run into from the side, by a small red car full of asian youths with music so loud that I thought I would be deafened... They tried to cut into my lane, as I was forming a queue and I saw them from the corner of my eye and had the instinct that they were going to do something dangerous... A split second later they were about 3 inches off my car, as they swung in tight to my lane, from behind me! I really could not believe it but there you go, the stereotype fits in that example. Car FULL of young males, music on loud, almost causing an accident. Infact there would have been an accident if I hadn't performed the emergency stop. Pff how I'd love the law to come down hard on them.

Yet whilst I'd like to restrict them, I don't see why I should be restricted the same as them. My only intention is to get around safely and cheaply, both of which cannot be done on public transport. I feel that this view is also shared by other young drivers, albeit it in a minority.

I passed when I was 17 and have never made a claim on insurance. I'm now edging towards 22. I have reversed into another vehicle at about 5mph, but that caused no damage, and was a result of me trying to avoid an old man about to reverse into me!

A lot of my friends, who are of similar age, have had horrific crashes, because of their 'im invincible' attitudes. Its annoying because its people like this who put my premiums up, but you can understand why.

As the first two years of driving are probationary, I think there should be some form of compulsory attendance at a safety seminar after passing the driving test, after 6 months, and one year. Because if you're going to crash, its most likely to be in the first year of driving.

Obviously there is no 'solution' to all this, but if a person has passed their test, they should have the same treatment as other drivers. Not allowing younger drivers to carry passengers, or drive at night is unfair. We aren't all the same.

As a young male aged 24 i remember my days shortly after passing my test.

I was invulnerable in my Peugeot 205 and looking back I drove far too fast at times, I have no excuses, my car was the perfect vehicle and with my great driving skill nothing could go wrong. If the seemingly impossible happened and I crashed, my bullet proof skin and unbreakable bones would protect me not to mention the massive amount of safety features old small cars have.

So as I drove my car at 40mph round a bend who would have thought that some horse cr*p could possible be there, (after all it was my racecourse) smashing into the barrier the perfect drivers skill was compromised.

I was completely fine apart from a few hundred quid lighter and a damaged pride. Thing was though since then I’ve driven sensibly, What us young idiotic men need is a scare, there must be a way of doing this, its simple education.

Another thing: experienced older drivers normally have more money, with 6 airbags in their Volvos not to mention the other safety features they remain safe. The younger have old unsafe cars.

Maybe then we should restrict our younger drivers to slow safe cars to stop themselves from their own stupidity until they learn??

Originally posted by Andy78
The link (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3993493.stm) from that page gives some scary stats too

Though, I find it a tad hard to believe as I've never known any of my friends to drink drive since I've been driving (10 years). Maybe they just asked a really dodgy 1000 people.

I think a lot of older people still drink drive as well, buy instead of driving home like a maniac drunk, they drive home carefully.

Or make safer cars cheaper so drivers don't compromise their safety over money.

To be honest, i think its just another way of making new drivers pay more money, i'd say yes to having to to take a safety test a year after passing my driving test if it was free.

At the moment we have £20+ per lesson, then £20 for the theory, and £60+ for the driving test etc.... No matter how many tests some people take it won't stop them from showing off to friends, or not caring about other drivers.

The driving test has changed a lot - so why not test all those drivers who've been driving for 10+ years? Everyone says you learn to drive 'properly' when you've passed your test.

Originally posted by designbunny


To be honest, i think its just another way of making new drivers pay more money, i'd say yes to having to to take a safety test a year after passing my driving test if it was free.



Its attitude more than skill level that causes most of the accidents. Maybe they should give a chav test, should you be confirmed a chav, then your insurance trebles.

Now, now Mosey. There is a thread for this (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31158&highlight=Chavbusters) ...

stopping young drivers from driving at night would just mean that when they turned 'old enough' to drive at night, they'd have never done it before and be just as dangerous as if they did it for the first time at a younger age, that's just moving the problem not solving it.

I really dislike the current "ban it it's dangerous" attitude that keeps showing up.

Perhaps heavier fines might help deter people from driving like smacked-up townies?

Perhaps if the police actually "pulled up" cars full of kids and just did their routine checks. IE: Checking that all seatbelts work/tyres/getting driver to walk the line etc... Even if s/he was totally innocent.

Stopping and checking would promote safety and get the old death-traps off the roads, put the word about that the police are ACTUALLY doing something to stop these morons and also make other drivers think that they could be next for a check.

I certainly wouldn't object to being pulled over by the police and being checked. My vehicle is fully serviced and road worthy, I am never under the influence of alcohol/drugs and I would be grateful for the police to acknowledge that despite me being a young driver, all I care about is getting from A to B safely and I will not compromise the safety of others whilst I am doing so.