Monday 9th June 2003

Young Drivers admit they're a Hazard

Autoglass survey shows young drivers recognise how dangerous they are on the roads, yet we're not helping them

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[kooperkidd]

75% are a risk to pedestrians?? How hard is not running someone over?

[daved]

It probably won't tell us anything we don't already know, but apparently the regional BBC programme 'Inside Out', tonight at 1930 has a bit about this on it.

[swilly]

Can guarantee the findings won't be accepted by Government as this will mean having to look at the driving education currently in place and updating it.

[v8thunder]

I wonder how many pensioners would reply with the same answer if asked?

[Dodge]

The thing about risk is it's not a black and white subject. With 2 moving objects in a small space and there's a risk that they will collide.

The important thing is how significant a risk is - I'd like to think the risk of me hitting somebody is less likely than a new driver, but the impact of that risk, should it occur is the same - a human being is worse off than a tonne of metal, plastic and fuel...

Asked whether I was a risk, I'd therefore have to say "yes"..

[PetrolTed]

It is heartening to know that many of them accept that they're a risk though. I thought they might all think they were Carlos Fandango...

[tomdavies01]

Having recently been in Germany i was actually amazed by their standards of driving. Being a student in Manchester and coming from Lincolnshire i have seen my fair share of shit driving, city and country. The German test doesn't even let you get one minor fault: the result? Better, safer drivers and i'm sure the road death figures would reflect this.

I passed my test nearly 3 years ago and people, after by passing are nearly always a)too Cocky or b)scared shitless. The DVLA and Government need to collectivly do something to improve the standard of driving on our roads and they need to do it now, and the only way to do it is to teach people better from the word go.

[LRdriver]

WHAT?? you guys dont have night driving or M-way on the driving curriculum????
No wonder they are crapping themselves.
In Denamrk we do all that(by law) and spend a day on a special wet weather track that has different surfaces to simulate ice/aquaplaning/water so you can spin the car comfortably to learn how to compensate.. good fun but productive.

(I did this also in a truck..spinning in a that was fun )

[samwilliams]

I agree that the learning to drive process needs to be improved, particularly in making people more aware of potential hazards, like they do in the advanced driving test (apparently, never done it myself).

However i'd be more concerned with these figures if they were very low, because at least they are recognising they aren't perfect drivers. As someone said, carry out the same survey on pensioners and you'd get significantly lower results, whereas they are probably as dangerous, if not more so, than the majority of young drivers (ignoring the really stupid ones, that is!)

Sam

[huge_ego]

Hi Sam,

You're quite right. Just as younger drivers are at significantly higher risk, so risk increases in old age. I forget the exact percentages, but pensioners and young drivers have very similar risk levels. Unlike younger drivers, there is a trend for older drivers to compensate, such as by avoiding night driving when they notice their vision deteriorate.

And yes, as you say, hazard perception is one of the things you learn in advanced driving - recognising potential hazards much earlier than regular drivers and dealing with them in a planned and systematic way (using the police System of Car Control).

Huge

>> Edited by huge_ego on Sunday 15th June 17:27