Are young drivers a danger on the road?

Daredevils on motorcycles weave in and out of the traffic, maniacs on bicycles like to under-take on the inside while motorists wait at the queues at traffic lights.

Then of course there are the learner drivers who tootle along as slow as they can holding up the rush hour traffic and preventing me from getting home in a timely manner.

As far as I am concerned the most dangerous type of motor car drivers are the youngsters who have just passed their test and think the new world of motoring is a game in which they are invincible.

Usually in some sort of cheap old banger, after all they can't afford much more, they roar away without a care in the world for their own safety or that of other drivers.

Naturally with their recklessness the youngsters are more likely to have accidents thus increasing the cost of insurance premiums for experienced drivers like my good self.

It seems that thankfully help may be at hand. I read an article on a national news site a few days ago qbout plans being considered to raise the age at which someone can drive to 18 years.

For newly qualified drivers other limitations being considered include a restriction on carrying passengers for the first year after passing a test.

Before even being able to take the driving test a new driver would have to accrue one hundred and twenty hours of supervised practice including twenty at night.

The proposals may seem draconian but last year a fifth of the people killed or seriously injured on the roads were in an accident where one of the drivers was under 24.

I think the new measures are a good idea especially the necessity to record hours of supervised practice which would bring learning to drive into the same realm of qualification akin to learning to fly a plane.

In the wrong hands cars are lethal weapons and all too often the enthusiasm of the youngsters is surley a contribution factor to the accidents.

By making it harder to obtain a licence the proposals would make the roads safer for all of us.

No doubt there will be the usual softies who think the measures are too tough but when it comes to safety there is no compromise.

Youngsters are one of the most dangerous categories of drivers on the roads today and that is echoed in the high costs of insurance for those under 25. Maybe if the new drivers are more careful the premiums will come down for all of us?

In addition to the measures outlined above I would like to see new drivers limited to low powered cars, say under 1,000cc, for their first few years on the road.

They should only be allowed to driver faster, more powerful cars if they keep a clean licence and don't have any accidents.

Stopping young people being like the experienced motorists may seem cruel to some but on occasions you have to be cruel to be kind....

What do you think?

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