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Driving
Age 'Rising to 18'...
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| Tough new L-test designed
to slash carnage on the roads will take a year to pass. |
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| The driving age will
effectively rise to 18 in a major overhaul of how young people are
prepared for the road. Learners will still be granted their
provisional licence from 17, but will need a year to pass a beefed-up
test. It means the minimum age at which a new driver could
realistically go out on his or her own will be 18. |
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| The move follows a Daily Mail
campaign, backed by the insurance industry, road safety campaigners and
motoring groups, to raise the formal driving age to 18 to help cut
accidents caused by young drivers. Road safety figures show that one
in five new drivers aged between 17 to 19 crash within a year of passing
their test. But for 17-year-olds the risk reduces by 43 per cent
after the first year of driving. |
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| The new structure, to be
unveiled by ministers in a consultation document published in the New
Year, will put more emphasis on issues such as avoiding reckless
behaviour, hazard perception, over-confidence and other failings. |
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| Candidates will have to
master key skills of the current driving test... including parallel
parking, reversing around a corner and the three-point turn... before they
are allowed to take a new practical L-test, which they must pass to secure
their full licence. Each mastered key skill will be signed off by a
qualified instructor in a log book. This will leave the examiner in
the driving test to concentrate on more 'safety-critical' issues, such as
dealing with junctions, roundabouts and moving traffic. |
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| The test, which will be
harder than the current one, will include elements such as driving on a
duel carriageway and turning right at a busy junction. The learning
process will also aim to give candidates experience of 'real world'
driving on high-speed roads at night. Learner drivers will spend up
to 500 hours mastering the key skills. Experts say candidates
currently spend 100 hours behind the wheel before taking their tests. |
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| 'This way the Government can
effectively raise the driving age to 18 without having to specifically
legislate,' Whitehall sources said. 'It will take most people at
least a year to be signed off by a qualified instructor on all the skills
they need to master before taking the tougher L test. A few drivers
'with the skills of a Lewis Hamilton' may qualify to take the practical
test, and secure a full licence, in less than a year, say Whitehall
insiders. But they will be the exception rather than the rule. |
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|
| The
Driving Test Now. |
| Theory
Test. |
| Taken from age
17: in two parts. |
| Part One. |
| Multiple choice
test: 50 questions. |
| Pass mark: 43 out
of 50. |
| Part Two. |
| Hazard perception
test of 14 video clips. |
| Practical
Test. |
| 2 Basic vehicle
safety questions. |
| General driving
ability. |
| Two reversing
exercises. |
| An emergency
stop. |
|
| The
Proposed Changes. |
| Beefed
up Theory Test. |
| About 1 year's
training needed. |
| A more
'structured' learner syllabus. |
| Log book... |
| Drivers must
master a series of 'Skills' |
| Parallel parking,
Reversing, etc. |
| [before taking
the Practical] |
| Practical
Test. |
| Greater
experience of high speed roads. |
| More
'real-world' driving lessons, |
| Such
as turning right at busy junctions, |
| Using
rural roads, and night driving. |
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| The campaign to restrict
young drivers... which also calls for tougher sentences for those who
cause fatal crashes... follows a moving plea from Elizabeth Davidson,
whose 26-year-old daughter was killed last year by a teenage driver.
Margaret Davidson's car was hit by 19-year-old Nolan Haworth at 70mph in a
50mph zone as he raced to court, while banned, to answer a charge of
affray. |
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| In September last year he was
jailed for just four years after pleading guilty to causing death by
dangerous driving. During the trial, Mrs Davidson moved the judge to
tears by describing the devastation to her life caused by the death of her
daughter, a doctor. |
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| The restructuring of the
driving test system will apply to all two million candidates a year of all
ages. The consultation will look at whether to insist on a given
number of compulsory lessons with a qualified instructor.
Affordability will be a key issue, with those from poorer backgrounds
currently often relying on free tuition from family or friends. |
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| MP's have called for a 'zero'
drink-drive limit of 20g/100ml of blood for novice drivers... similar to
that for air crews... compared to the current standard drink-drive limit
of 80mg/100ml. The Government says it will look at this under a
separate review of the drink-drive limit. but ministers see
difficulties enforcing it as police would not be sure which limit applied
to drivers they stopped. |
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| MP's have also called on the
Government to prohibit new drivers from carrying passengers aged 10 to 20
between 11pm and 5am. The Government rejected this in 2002.
But it will consider again the 'practicality and likely effectiveness' of
the measures. Recent research has shown that young drivers' brains
are 'too immature' to drive safely. The frontal lobe... which
controls emotion, risk-taking and decision making... is not fully
developed until the age of 25. And studies of driver attitudes show
young motorists are more likely to drive for the pleasure of
thrill-seeking, and feelings of pride, power and confidence. |
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|
50% of Male Drivers
under 21 crash in their first year of driving. |
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| The road safety charity Brake
said that raising from 17 to 18 the age at which young people can take
their driving test would significantly reduce the 'disproportionate'
number of young driver deaths and injuries on UK roads. It said road
crashes are the biggest killer of those aged 15 to 24, with 23 young
drivers and passengers killed or seriously injured every day. |
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| Nick Starling of the
Association of British Insurers said: 'We must get away from the 'pass
now, learn later' culture too many youngsters have. Every day 140
drivers pass their driving test with less than six months driving
experience. It is this lack of experience that makes young drivers
so vulnerable. Helping them gain experience of driving in different
road conditions, such as at night and on wet roads, as part of the
learning process will make them safer drivers, and reduce the tragic waste
of young lives on our roads.' |
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| According to the ABI, male
drivers aged 17-20 are 10 times as likely to be killed or seriously
injured as more experienced motorists. Half of serious accidents
involving young drivers occur at night. |
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