Speed limiters for Younger Driver's not the answer

[Darren]

"Young Driver's responsible for 1/4 Death by Dangerous Driving offences"

Say's a report compiled from figures from the Department of Transport and the Home Office, being circulated and commented by the A&A Group, an Insurance intermediary in a press release (Thu 18 May 06 - http://www.itv-motoring.com/news/2006/may/18/10099.asp).

The A&A Group also notes that, taking an average of its own figures from 2003 to 2005, 38% of drivers aged 17 or 18 make an insurance claim, compared with 20% of those aged 25 and over.

Advanced-Driving.co.uk was setup to use the internet to show young drivers the benefits of better driver education, and especially the under 25's who are the most at risk of being an accident statistic. As an enthusiastic online community it is hoped Younger Driver's can benefit from free, online education and advice.

The A&A Group has also suggested the radical measure of fitting speed limiters to vehicles of young drivers which Advanced-Driving.co.uk believes to be both a poor solution to what really is an education and attitude problem from the outset.

Safe driving is not about limiting speed, it's about understanding why people have accidents in the first place and in the majority of cases, speed is not the main contributing factor, why people speed is as this is normally closely linked to a lack of other skills such as observation and hazard awareness which are the problems that really need to be addressed.

More pressure should be put on the Driving Standards Agency to ensure Young Driver's are well qualified to understand the effects of their actions behind the wheel, when they pass their test and further training to be encouraged. Insurance companies could give better discounts for people who opt for further training such as IAM, RoSPA, HPC etc.

The real issue is about getting into the minds of Young Driver's and changing their attitudes from the outset, not about limiting speed and diminishing driver responsibility. After all, if someone has an accident within the speed limit, that doesn't mean their speed was a) appropriate, b) the driver was not at fault.

"I wasn't speeding officer, see I have a speed limiter fitted, so it's not my fault" just doesn't cut it if someone is killed on the roads.

Advanced-Driving.co.uk would prefer to work with the Insurance industry to put together plans to reduce road casualties due to education, training, re-assessment and incentive based premiums based on skill set and proven advanced driving techniques, maybe then we would have a long term solution to a long standing problem.

For more information about Advanced Driving:
Website: http://www.advanced-driving.co.uk
Young Driver Campaign: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork/G1725

[Søren]

The message seems to be gradually getting through. If you put too much emphasis on speed as the major road safety problem, drivers become blinkered to the other factors which are much more relevant.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of accompanying my fellow collision investigators to a meeting with a representative of the local 'safety' partnership, along with the highways and maintanance engineers to discuss causation factors for KSIs.

The unanimity of voice of the colliision investigators was quite a revelation to me, but also to the others in the group who all heard what they did not want to hear - that remote speed enforcement is simply a business based on the fringes of law enforcement with absolutely no method or mechanism for saving life.

Education and encouragement of responsibility is key, along with the targeting of real risk groups.

[Nigel]

Good luck Soren, your one of the good guys, lets hope people listen to you in the end.

[chrispbrown2255]

Education and encouragement of responsibility is key, along with the targeting of real risk groups.

Fantastic. Younger drivers (I class myself both as young and inexperienced) need to be more informed of their duties as a driver. Its not to get there, its to get there in one piece.
I have seen many young NQD's fly down country lanes doing aggressive overtaking manouveres in fully laden cars. Which is something that was on the news not too long ago.
I must point out that its unfair to blanket all young drivers like this, I have come across several different types.
1) People who have no regard for other users except the passenger or on lookers they are trying to impress
2) Drivers who are concerned about safe driving but have the wrong idea and think they are right
3) Drivers who are concerned about safe driving, think they have the right ideas but go further and seek confirmation of their ideas. Confirmation of ideas can come in several forms from talking to "experts" to doing advanced driving courses.
Although the above can be applied to any driver I feel that it picks out young NQD's because
1) experienced drivers have experience, so can see what situations can develop from that innocent car sat down the road
2) older driver NQD's tend to know the importance of discipline and pay better attention purely because they have more "life experience".
Although there are always exceptions to these.
I think if you go with an ADI or atleast somesort of driving school the presence of pass plus will be made obvious, and its incentive of a nice insurance discount (although I'm aware of cases of abuse of this system ).
I think part of the education that you speak of Soren is to introduce more mandatory (or even preferred) requirements for young NQD's. For example, a requirement where by you have to have atleast 2 hours with an ADI instead of just learning from your parents (again there are exceptions, a parent may not be an ADI but could have ROSPA gold).
Will my idea increase the number of unlicensed (hence uninsured) drivers on the road? Maybe, but something has to be done, and I just don't feel that the current system is good enough. You have to pass a theory test which in theory (no pun intended) covers everything, but how many people actually pay attention? Remember these younger drivers spent atleast 12years in school, did they all pay attention and get good exam grades (I am not suggesting a link that poor exam achievers are poor drivers, that is another debate for another time)? A prime example of the flaws in the current system is me and my driving. I passed my L test not having driven once at night, in the rain, fog, ice or snow. In fact I drive for the first time in snow this year 2.5 years after passing my test. I also think its stupid that you are able to drive on the motorway being self taught.
I remember when I was 15 some people from the DSA came to my school and gave us a presentation on driving, basically covered how to get a provisional, the test procedure, the cockpit drill, MSM and they then (non patronizingly) begged us to make sure that whoever we got out lessons from atleast had the green ADI badge in their window.
My conclusion after this long and nonsensical rant, placing restrictions on younger NQD's isn't the answer. Its education, and getting them to steadily build up their driving instead of taking everyone oneout the day they pass their test.