Stepped Licences...

[real4star]

Not my idea but

In the pub last night I was talking to a guy who owns/owned an Mitsubishi Evo6, until last week when his 18year old son plowed it into a parked van a 3am.

He was voicing the idea that car licences should awarded in stages, with skid pan, road and motorway tests in between

Age 17-18: 1000cc 80hp max
TEST
18-21: 1400cc 110hp max
TEST
21-25: 1800cc 150hp max
TEST
25-27: 2000cc 200hp max
TEST
27+ what ever you want

I reckon the idea has merits...

Neal

Edited by real4star on Sunday 2nd December 16:15

[paulmoonraker]

Why bother when the insurance companies essentially enforce this anyway.

[DickHerpes]

I think your mate shouldn't let his 18 year old son drive his Evo.

[Condi]

DickHerpes said:

I think your mate shouldn't let his 18 year old son drive his Evo.

This basically.

Your friend let his son drive his car, and he smashed it. Now he thinks the gubberment should licence young drivers so his son cant crash his evo again?

Sounds like its your friends fault for letting a new driver loose in a sports car, rather than the government's fault.


But hey-ho, modern Britain: it's always someone else's fault.

[cuprabob]

No women in the pub?

[Caulkhead]

DickHerpes said:

I think your mate shouldn't let his 18 year old son drive his Evo.

This.

Ask your mate how much it cost to insure his 18 year old son on an Evo.

[real4star]

cuprabob said:

No women in the pub?

Small village pub, everyone knows everyone and No there weren't any women in (except the bar maid and she's 56)

I agree he shouldn't have put his son on his policy (at considerable extra cost)...

His main (biased) argument is that they use a similar system for motorcycles, so why not cars

Neal

[7mike]

Anyone can be on their best behaviour for the duration of a driving test (or tests). Doesn't rule out the importance of personally taking responsibility for one's own actions. As is generally the case when someone fks up, it's preferable to make excuses rather than face up to the real problem.

[PHuzzy]

On a counter argument, since the age of 18 I've had fairly high powered cars.
Since the age of 21 I've had a 300bhp Impreza and in my 6 year driving history I've never had, nor come that close to having an accident so why should I be punished for that?!

[Silent1]

bks, age has nothing to do with it, i had my VX200 from 18 and my Cooper S with 250bhp from 18 as well and haven't crashed either, whereas i know someone who at 38 wrote off £1,000,000 of his own cars (well 3 in total) in a 12 month period

[barker22]

So your friend thinks I should wait another 3 years to drive the car I have had for the last 4 years, that I haven't somehow despite what he thinks, managed to crash yet.

An 80hp car can still go way above the limit into a parked van at 3am.

[davepoth]

Precisely. A classic Fiat 500 only had 13hp and could still hit 53mph.

[7mike]

davepoth said:

Precisely. A classic Fiat 500 only had 13hp and could still hit a parked van at 3am.

EFA

[Charlie Michael]

I'll hand my 340hp car back then as i'm only 24 and therefore, i'm useless at driving.

By any chance are you 27-28 so these restrictions don't apply to you?

[The Moose]

My dad had me insured on all his cars (high performance or otherwise) from the day I passed my test. Including track day work. Guess how many I smashed up?

[GokTweed]

There's a big difference between stepping licences and letting your 18 year old son drive your sodding EVO! I think the bit up to 21 years old makes sense but generally by the time they hit 21 and have had around 4 years on the roads they should have mellowed a bit.

[elster]

real4star said:

Not my idea but

In the pub last night I was talking to a guy who owns/owned an Mitsubishi Evo6, until last week when his 18year old son plowed it into a parked van a 3am.

He was voicing the idea that car licences should awarded in stages, with skid pan, road and motorway tests in between

Age 17-18: 1000cc 80hp max
TEST
18-21: 1400cc 110hp max
TEST
21-25: 1800cc 150hp max
TEST
25-27: 2000cc 200hp max
TEST
27+ what ever you want

I reckon the idea has merits...

Neal

Edited by real4star on Sunday 2nd December 16:15

I reckon the guy is a retard for letting his son drive his Evo with no experience. Maybe instead of restricting drivers on what they can or cant have up to the age of 27 perhaps people could use a little judgement.

[Dangerous Dan]

Age isn't the real issue. Inexperience is.

Relevant experience at driving doesn't necessarily come from "doing it for years and years". The amount of "older" people who really haven't got a fking clue behind the wheel of a car yet assume they are great at driving because they've been "doing it for years and years" is quite shocking.

So let's do what was suggested - bring in a (hugely in-efficient and expensive) tiered testing system, make the test(s) harder and enforce minimum hours/standards of driver training. Let's kill two birds with one stone here and re-test everyone at the same time. Anyone who doesn't make the grade, regardless of age or driving "experience" is immediately disqualified until they can pass the newly-hardened/improved driving test(s).

Wouldn't win too many votes either.

[getawayturtle]

I'm in the 21-25 age group and managed to never crash a 328i that was close to 200hp.
And there lies the flaw of restricting people by age only.

[oj121]

Hitting a parked van has nothing to do with age or experience. Its down to the ineptitude of the driver really.