RTA

[muddyjames]

and forgot to add. When I was looking for my first car a fiesta was going to be about £1500 TPFT and a series 3 diesel landy £800 fully comp.

I didnt go with a landy then as I felt I wanted to get used to other idiots on the road in an easy power stering etc car rather than a landy that I would have to concentrate alot on the car as well as the road.

I love my rover :D




I have heard that the driving age is now 18 years old. could make a difference on the roads but i doubt it.

[kizz81]

the driving age is still 17! alot of my mates are taking driving lessons and there 17. i cant start untill easter  :o

i think that people my age should only be allowed to drive cars that they have bought, really annoys me when peoples parents buy them a car, i had to buy my 90 and i will pay my dad fully for the insurance because its cheaper that way £450

kieran

[hairyasswelder]

absolute utter rubish.
how am i supposed to run my 200TDi defender if that rule came in?

 :oops: OK, perhaps a tad over-the-top there, how about a bhp restriction then ?

Thats what happened with the Motorcycle test as any biker will tell you.
If under 21 when you pass test you get restricted to 33bhp, after 2 years the restriction is lifted. If over 21 you can take test on bigger bike (33bhp+) and have no restriction  :D

Steve

[jjsaul]

My idea to stop this carnage is simple - when you pass your test, regardless of how old you are, you should only be allowed to buy/drive/have given to you a 1.0l car, not supercharged or turbo'd, just a bog-standard, 1.0l 55hp old banger. Then once you've done 2 years of accident, and incident free driving you can 'upgrade' to something slightly bigger (1.4l...... :twisted: )

What a stupid idea.
Why not do it on performance. I drive a 3.5 V8 range rover, but it was still pretty much the slowest thing to 60 in my school car park!
I skidded on diesel and managed to demolish a stop sign...no injuries other than a bent sign and a dented bumper/bonnet...in a corsa or similar chances are i would have ended up spending taxpayers money on an ambulance and hospital treatment...

EDIT: (more posts in the meantime)

My 2 rangies which i use, i paid for, i pay to tax and insure and i pay for most of the fuel in them as well.
My vectra i paid for and pay to insure as well, but the insurance is ridiculous so it's gotta go.

BTW im 19 in april for those who didnt know.

[TDi90]

i second that JJ saol, what a STOOOOOPID idea... a life without my landy cos its more then 1.0L NO WAY uh uh, aint gonna happen mate.
R

[Boggert]

I don't think we should look at any restrictions, ever the smallest 1L Micra can be wound up to 60mph and on a bendy country lane can fall off!

As part of the teat they should be shown the carnage caused by driving like a numpty,

[Lord Shagg-Pyle]

I don't think we should look at any restrictions, ever the smallest 1L Micra can be wound up to 60mph and on a bendy country lane can fall off!

As part of the teat they should be shown the carnage caused by driving like a numpty,

I couldn't agree more, but which part of the 'teat' are you referring to exactly?
Showing them part of the 'teat' or in fact all of it, would distract them and cause more accidents! :shock:


Sorry Boggert, I had one of my mental images again!

[jjsaul]

As part of the teat they should be shown the carnage caused by driving like a numpty,

i would agree with that

another thing i think should be introduced is a session on a skid pan so people can learn what its like and possibly some of the things to do.

[muddyjames]

another thing i think should be introduced is a session on a skid pan so people can learn what its like and possibly some of the things to do.

So boy racers with dads posh powerful cars can do perfect doughnuts in Tescos car park at night :!:  

[Boggert]

I don't think we should look at any restrictions, ever the smallest 1L Micra can be wound up to 60mph and on a bendy country lane can fall off!

As part of the teat they should be shown the carnage caused by driving like a numpty,

I couldn't agree more, but which part of the 'teat' are you referring to exactly?
Showing them part of the 'teat' or in fact all of it, would distract them and cause more accidents! :shock:


Sorry Boggert, I had one of my mental images again!

Perhaps when they do the written test! not when they are driving LOL :lol:

[jjsaul]

another thing i think should be introduced is a session on a skid pan so people can learn what its like and possibly some of the things to do.

So boy racers with dads posh powerful cars can do perfect doughnuts in Tescos car park at night :!:  

get the right surface (think last weeks weather   ) and you can make a pretty tidy job out of it in an underpowered 20yr old 4x4  :twisted:

[drmike]

Given that there was one slightly injured young man were there

'On scene we had... 3 Police cars, 2 fire crews, ambulance, air ambulance, 3 first responders and fire chief. '

From the sound of it the only person affected was walking wounded - I am readily confused but why quite so many valuable people dealing with one car hitting a tree or something?

I'm getting old.

Mike

[Boggert]

Given that there was one slightly injured young man were there

'On scene we had... 3 Police cars, 2 fire crews, ambulance, air ambulance, 3 first responders and fire chief. '

From the sound of it the only person affected was walking wounded - I am readily confused but why quite so many valuable people dealing with one car hitting a tree or something?

I'm getting old.

Mike

Not sure why the air ambulance came, I guess its sent if not busy and again not sure why 2 fire engines came again it up to the other services.

From the police point of view, we needed 3 people, 2 to safely do the traffic (it was on a nasty corner) and 1 to do the paperwork (booklet) Each car is single cewed.

[Skibum346]

another thing i think should be introduced is a session on a skid pan so people can learn what its like and possibly some of the things to do.

So boy racers with dads posh powerful cars can do perfect doughnuts in Tescos car park at night :!:  

JJ has a point. At the point when an RTI (I for incident as nothing is an accident... there is always a cause... and there is usually a human at the start of the chain)....

At the point an RTI happens, there is a short window where correct use of recovery techniques can prevent the situation from becoming worse. I'd rather drivers knew what to do at this point. I wonder how many RTI's are sevre because one or more of the drivers froze... or worse... carried out the wrong correction.

There will always be those who use Tesco's for extra curricular activities... and there are mechanisms for dealing with them. Limiting a drivers ability to recover from an emergency situation should to prevent some loputish behaviour is not a sensible idea... as long as theyre in Tescos... I don't mind!

[clbarclay]

1.0L is still far to powerful for most drivers, mady limiting them to a 2.25 naturally asmatic diesel for the first year might work.

[Range Rover Blues]

If I had my way we'd all be retested very 5 years or so.  I wouldn't make the existing test harder (as it's rumoured to become) that's pointless.  Longer yes, but not harder.

The problem is that young persons stop driving the way they were taught the moment their mates see them (and take the p**).  What we need to do is make it more important to practice the driving skills that cost so much to learn, so I would have all newly quailified drivers re-tested after a certain period.

Between the first and second tests they should carry P plates, like in other countries.  Try getting insured on a Porche as a probationary driver.

Anyone failing their statutory retest would become a P driver with 12 months to pass, otherwise you'd have so many sods moaning that they will loose their job without a licence, even though they aren't fit to hold one.

Anyone wanting points taken off their licence should also have to take the test.

Right, now you're all going to argue "but how would I drive my......."

YOU DON'T, the rules are there as thet stand, if they are changed you have to abide by them.  If you want a bigger car, prove you can handle it, if you can, it will be cheaper to run.

Some of the spin-off benifits from retesting, which already happen in the 'states

Compulsory eye-test on the spot before the licence is re-issued

The photo on your licence WILL be you, take the picture in the test centre.  No more forgeries, no more stand-ins taking driving tests for other people.

Drivers will have to keep their skills up to date, or pay me a lot of money to cure their bad habbits.

Some of the w***ers on the road might be a tad more sympathetic to student drivers.

If you want to insure a hoofing big people carrier, your insurance company might be 'interested' to know what you drove for your retest.


It'll never happen mind, not unless you all vote for me

[Rich_P]

There are some flaws with what you say there though, as much as I hate to say it.

An example of a situation:

Have you driven a Series?  I personally would like to see someone drive a Series, especially a 2A or earlier vehicle how you're supposed to drive for the test.  Feeding the wheels through your hands at slow speeds such as when turning around is almost impossible in many cases.  You have to heave the wheel round.

Although I clearly understand your overall point, in some cases it wouldn't quite work all that well.  But no plan is absolutely perfect...

[Range Rover Blues]

But the test is not that strict, you have to be 'in proper control'.  However feeding the wheel is commonly accepted as the best method of moving the wheel quickly and under full control.

You would also struggle with the turn in the road manouvre and possibly reverse parking.

But then you want to drive this on public roads, it's down to the examiner to judge whether you can do that safely and asking you to a number of manouvres is one of the ways he does this, the locations chosen should reflect the vehicle in question.