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Do you support graduated driving licenses?

Do you support graduated driving licenses?


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Matt N

TS Member
Favourite Ride
Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Hi guys. In recent days, a bill in the House of Commons regarding graduated driving licenses in the UK has been gaining ground. Put forward by a Labour MP, the bill is gaining cross party support, and it will be voted on very soon.

For those unaware, the idea of graduated driving licenses is that new drivers under 25 still have restrictions on their driving. For example, there may be rules such as a requirement to still have an older chaperone in the car at certain times at very least, a ban on driving at night, a ban on carrying more than a certain number of young passengers in the car, and a complete ban on drinking before driving as opposed to the regular drink-driving limit of one or two pints.

More info can be found via this link from the RAC: https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/driving-law/graduated-driving-licences-launched-to-tackle-overconfident-young-drivers/#:~:text=The purpose of GDLs is,these involved a young driver.

With this in mind, I’d be interested to know; what are people’s thoughts on the idea of graduated driving licenses for new drivers under the age of 25?

Personally, I’m undecided.

On one hand, I can see the logic behind this idea. 17-24 year olds have a high rate of road traffic accidents, and having been around 17-24 year olds, there are definitely some overconfident drivers in my age group who will take risks on the road. Some of the suggested rules do make sense to me as well.

On the other hand, the idea of still being heavily restricted after passing does feel like a bit of a kick in the teeth when I’ve been learning for 2 years. Many of the suggested rules wouldn’t really affect me at all, but some of them, such as potentially still needing a chaperone beside you, would be a real kick in the teeth for me.

The other interesting statistic that I’ve heard cited by critics of this idea is that those aged under 25 actually have lower accident casualty rates per billion miles driven than those aged over 85, and that the over-80s as an age group have a similar, if not higher, accident casualty rate than under-25s: https://www.gov.uk/government/stati...sheet-2021#contributory-factors-in-collisions

Rightly or wrongly, some argue that if over-80s do not have any additional restrictions on their driving, then under-25s shouldn’t either.

So from a logical standpoint, I get this idea, but from an emotional one, I don’t particularly like the idea.

In fairness, however, I should acknowledge that I probably can’t give a fair, impartial judgement seeing as I will (hopefully) soon be in the demographic directly affected by this legislation if I eventually pass my driving test. With this in mind, my opinion on this probably isn’t overly valid.

But I’d be keen to know; what are your thoughts on graduated driving licenses?
 
Banning people under 25 form driving at certain times (eg night) would be quite annoying if they normally drive themselves to and from work in those hours- you don't have to be 25 to work a night shift! I agree that over 80s group should also have restrictions if they bring this in.
 
I think something needs doing however ban on night driving will have a negative affect on employment for young people.
No shift work, if your job start before sun rise or sun set you can't use the car so may not be able to get there or back, so you end up unemployed.
Then there is emergency services. You can't be crew on an NHS ambulance without a driving licence. So basically banning anyone under 25 from being tech or para.
As you can see, there are knock on affects that need to be fully explored.
 
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A silly idea.

Yes, boy (and girl) racers exist, but most of them aren't boys or girls but 30 year olds. I don't have stats but most drink drivers I've arrested are middle aged women, most speeders I've caught are middle aged men, most people with a blatant disregard for the rules if the road are wealthy and not concerned by fines.

The black boxes some insurance companies use seem like a decent idea, the 6 point ban for new drivers also makes sense, but this doesn't.

I think what is really needed are two things:

- a retest for everyone every 5 years or so, people get into bad habits, people are dishonest with themselves about failing abilities and medical conditions. It would make people have to consider the quality of their driving after the day they pass their test rather than forgetting about it for 50 years like they do now.

- people who have moved here on a foreign licence have to pass a UK test to continue driving after a month or so. Other countries do not have our standards in the licencing process and other countries have completely different laws of the road and there is nothing in place to compel visitors to learn these. There a scary amount of people out there who have passed a test by driving 100m in a straight line and nothing more.

The biggest change that's needed is a cultural one though. In my driving life we seem to have gone from a place where the vast majority of people drove to the laws and restrictions of the road to one where many people are only concerned with not getting caught. Too much hurry, too much selfishness, not enough thought, and the police being made out to be the enemy for enforcing when the only thing they are doing is enforcing what should be done anyway. But I'm not sure how you change that.
 
This sounds stupid, I know many people in this bracket who drive well, like wise I know many people who don't, if I was in the bracket I would hate to imagine how much time I would miss if I had to leave events like scarefest or having to bring someone over an age just so i can drive back it is stupid, I couldn't think how anoyed I would be if I was running late and now had to wait for my parents to come and help me drive back because it passed the time.
I think the idea may be not too bad, but using age limits is stupid I would like it if it was implemented based on driving license points or offences, not sure how either could be implemented logistically though.
edit: why are they giving a hard age limit of under 25, why not for 5 years after getting a licence you have a graduated one, could make more sence to get the confidence levels right
 
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Can't wait until the day all cars are forced to adhere to speed limits via a gps system. Give people a bit of freedom and they take the p**s. We have a country full of entitled and selfish people. Bring on a brutal dictatorship I say. Offensive road behaviour would be met with public unaliving at the roadside to set a clear example to others.
 
I don't get why people drive dangerously, like is the 5/6 seconds off your journey really worth weaving in and out of traffic lanes?
like everyone you just overtook and yourself are about to be stuck at the same set of traffic lights 500m down the road so you just gained 3 places on the road and achived no time saving
 
We don't need legislation to make drivers do things all we need is insurance companies to make there products unavailable without requirements like black boxes, dashcam for all policies.
They know the risk factors and could make road safer by finance pressure.
 
We don't need legislation to make drivers do things all we need is insurance companies to make there products unavailable without requirements like black boxes, dashcam for all policies.
They know the risk factors and could make road safer by finance pressure.
they do though, a frend who pased a couple years ago her insurance is £2000 a year on a £2000 car with a black box! it was something stupid like £2500 without it.
 
I can see some restrictions would be valuable.

Chaperone for the first 6 months

People under 21 can’t have passengers after 8pm unless they have an adult over 25 in the car.

But I would also add that everyone should have to have a sight test every 5 years and that is reported to the DVLA. My friend is an optician and he often tells people they are no longer legal to drive but he cannot report that to the DVLA, and he knows most patients still drive after being told they can’t.

Also everyone over 70 should have to retest every 5 years.
 
I'd have been screwed, I worked silly shifts most of the years between passing and 25. A mandatory black box would have been a pain too as I'd have been penalised for going to work. Also, my car at the time wouldn't support a black box, considering it barely has electrics let alone an OBD port.
 
I'd have been screwed, I worked silly shifts most of the years between passing and 25. A mandatory black box would have been a pain too as I'd have been penalised for going to work. Also, my car at the time wouldn't support a black box, considering it barely has electrics let alone an OBD port.
don't they just work off an 12v ignition power?
 
Restricting the time of day you can drive based on your age is unworkable. If you have passed a driving test you would have been trained how to drive safely at night.

Insisting on a chaperone after you have passed your test is pointless as the purpose of the test is to demonstrate that you can control the car completely independently.

Other measures such as banning new drivers from taking too many young passengers or a total ban on drink driving make more sense to me, as alcohol and distractions are likely to have a significant impact on a new driver's awareness and concentration.
 
So youngsters come out of uni nearly £27k in the red, the job they trained to do no longer exists or pays crap money. Home ownership is a pipe dream. There's a huge national debt for the poor buggers to pay, and they won't retire until they're well into their 70's. Their minimum wage is lower and they're open to financial exploitation. Under 18's are basically unemployable in many industries due to all the laws around extra breaks and time between shifts and not trusting them to operate "dangerous machinery".

Now MP's want to screw their life chances over even more by banning them from driving at night and making sure someone is there to hold their hand like they're incapable morons or something?

So lucky to be born when I was. You could walk into full-time employment straight from school at 16, work your way up the ranks, full UK driving licence at 17 opening up employment opportunities, mortgage in your mid-20's with a bit of saving. Do MP's really think that the solution to this country's problems is to kick youngsters hopes and dreams into the long grass by trying to keep them as kids forever? What happens when we need 18 year olds to get our economy moving and pay for our pensions? Rediclous. They'll all be sat at home under some absurd curfew.
 
What they should do is, nationally, make a pact to never leave home, buy a property or have kids until such a time that the government gets multi millions of starter homes built so that they have some hope for the future. And don't bother working full-time or going to uni either, just do a little part-time job for some spending money, as you'll have hardly any outgoings due to no kids or rent/mortgage. Then when the country comes to a standstill, the powers that be might consider the lives of young people a bit more. Far fetched, I know, but I have these strange thoughts occasionally.
 
We know they are odd loopholes in the laws. The one a friend of mine suggested may happen with not driving at night. Is professional drivers under 25, like 44 ton truck drivers would probably be allow to drive trucks overnight however when they get to the yard can't drive their 1ton car home due to the night time restrictions.
 
No I don't support it simply because it sounds like another case of hating on the young and generalising them all because of a few bad drivers. Why should the young suffer because of decisions the older generations make?
Nothing like a bit of age prejudice is there...
Nothing to do with hating the young, all to do with reducing deaths and serious accidents on the roads...go look at the statistics!
Nothing to do with older people, all to do with what we have to do to make all the roads safer, for all generations.
But it is always easier to blame the generations that have gone before.
 
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