Young drivers could face a two-year ban on driving at night under a radical overhaul of the driving test system being proposed to cut road deaths.

 

The shake-up would force teenagers to wait an extra year - until they are 18 - before taking their test.

 

And if they pass, they will then be subject to the two-year night-driving curfew and be restricted to carrying no more than one passenger.

 

 

The restrictions would be lifted only if they passed a second test at the age of 20, effectively making them learner drivers for up to three years.

 

The ideas are being put forward by the Driving Standards Agency (DSA), which sets the driving test, to try to halt an increase in the number of fatal crashes involving drivers aged between 17 and 20.

 

In 2005 there were 542 fatalities in such crashes and statistics show that young drivers are significantly more likely to have an accident after dark and when they have a car full of friends.

 

But some driving campaigners say the proposals are so draconian they will be counterproductive -encouraging more teenagers to drive illegally, especially as the cost of getting a licence would soar from about £1,000 to £3,000, largely because of the extra lessons involved.

 

Kevin Delaney, of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said:

 

"The expense and complications of these proposals will surely increase the already soaring numbers of young people who are driving without qualification and insurance.

 

"Learning to drive would become too expensive. It would be impossible to enforce curfews and the temptation to break the law would be enormous. There would be more accidents, not fewer."

 

He said that young people were involved in more crashes because of their lack of judgment and experience.

 

"Their control of a vehicle in test conditions is usually pretty good and their reactions are fast, so making the driving test harder is not the answer.

 

"These suggestions would simply raise a lot of revenue for driving instructors. The answer lies in motoring education."

 

The Association of Chief Police Officers, however, has welcomed the debate and is discussing the proposals with the DSA and other motoring organisations.

 

Professor Peter Russell, of the Driver Education Research Foundation, insisted that changing the driving test would help new drivers to cope better.

 

"We need a test that assesses a new driver's ability to find a route and to follow it safely while coping with all the various traffic conditions that may arise," he said.

 

"The two most significant changes being discussed are an upgrading of the hazard-perception test (HPT) and enhanced practical on-road tests.

 

"To many young drivers, the HPT is like a computer game, not a genuine test of safe driving observation.

 

"In future, new drivers will have to demonstrate their reaction times and show they know the correct action to take.

 

"Instead of using a computer, the test is more likely to be in a driving simulator."

 

Eddie Barnaville, chief executive of the Driving Instructors' Association, backs the new proposals but denies his members are thinking just of the extra income.

 

"Any rise in the cost of learning to drive will be a valuable investment if lives are saved,' he said.

 

"The skill is undervalued at its current level of £1,000. Driving schools have very narrow profit margins when rising fuel costs and insurance are taken into account."

 

A DSA spokeswoman said:

 

"We are very early in the consultation process and no time frame has been attached to possible changes to driving tests.

 

"We are gathering information and many different ideas are under consideration. Proposals will eventually be put before the Department for Transport."

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=441423&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source=

That's some bullshit.

 

All the guys in my school who are going to Uni next year and moving away from home are only able to do that because they can drive.

 

If they make that rule they're basically saying that we're not adults at 18.

 

I turned 18 last month and read something someone gave me saying "Legally you're now classed as an adult".

 

Adults can do whatever they want. I could get married tomorrow if I wanted, I could drink, I could emigrate, but now I might not be able to drive?

 

If there's such a large amount of people who are getting caught in crashes between 17 - 20 years old, thats because you can't just become an amazing driver as soon as you pass your test. My uncle is a driving instructor and he said "you learn to pass the test, you learn how to drive afterwards". If they bump the age up to 20, the amount of fatal crashes between ages 20 - 23 will rise.

 

It's a stupid idea. And the cost thing. University is expensive enough. My course is gonna be something like, £3000 a year, and then I might have to pay another 3k for driving?

 

People don't need 180 hours to learn to drive. I've done 12 and I'm more than halfway there according to the instructor.

Looking at some of the shocking joyriding in the UK I would raise the legal driving age to 21 and only when they've passed a physical test can they apply for the theory test. Any only when they've passed the theory test can they apply to drive a car. Criminal record pending ;)

 

That will go a small way to solving the government's long-term problem with too many cars on the road. I should be a politician :rolleyes:

they definitely need to look at what they include in driving tests. you don't do any motorway driving, yet as soon as you pass your test you can go out alone and drive on one. there ought to be an additional layer to enable you to have motorway lessons and then pass a motorway driving test, or the advanced driving test should be compulsory.

Raise the limit to 20, than the band of drivers having accidents in those first couple years due to lack of real-life knowledge of the road will simply move up-to 20s to 22s.

 

If your a townie, living in the same town/city where you are taking your test, than I doubt you will actually go outside the town/city, or even if you do you will go into Suburbia, which isn't the country-side. Young driver passes test and goes out of the city, out of suburbia and into the country side, where they meet a tractor, panic, hit some mud on road/pothole and go straight into a tree.

 

Doesn't affect me, as my pink driving license says, I was born in Andover ;)