Young people and driving

[Isabella40]

After seeing those horrific crashes over the last two weeks do you think the law should be changed? I thought I had heard there were going to be changes in the age young people are allowed passengers with them. Having two teenagers who will be learning to drive soon just worries me them going on the road. Where we live I’ve see so many people drive through red lights/poor level of driving it worries me my children learning to drive but I want them to gain independence and it’s a useful skill for them to gain jobs.

No, the law does not need to be changed but the existing laws need to be enforced better.

If the are going to be doing stupid things like driving the wrong way down a motorway or dual carriageway........ do you think they will take any notice about how many passengers they are meant to have in the car?

I think the attitudes of the car industry need to change, of course with the people who are driving but the manufacturers have a lot to answer for too. So many models are now sold with sports spoilers, loud exhausts, blacked out widows and alloy wheels that look like something from a fighting chariot. They are supplying vehicles to be used on PUBLIC roads, why has this demand came from to make everything so aggressive looking

I doubt the drivers of any age who are stupid enough to drive diwn the motorway the wrong way care would about passenger rules

Yes, the crashes that made the news are not normal driving are they? I have 2 children who have learned to drive, I told them to drive on the basis that everyone else on the road is a complete idiot who is likely to do something completely random at any given moment
my daughter reckons it is the best advice I have given her

Do you think if they’re the type to steal cars, put false plates on and drive them at ridiculous speeds the wrong way down motorways, that they’re ever going to pay any heed to any laws about how many passengers they can carry?

I think you will find that is the aftermarket industry, not the car manufacturers themselves.
Most of these modifications are marked as "not for road use". The place to clamp down on this is the MOT and at long last, the DOT is looking at mandatory photographing of the vehicle as it was tested.
Too little too late but it is a start.☹️

Not just the actual driving side, but I think apps like TikTok should have AI that recognises when someone is live streaming from a vehicle and it should automatically stop recording/streaming. Surely that’s doable.

I doubt either of the drivers involved had a license.

I live in the countryside and the overall majority of accidents and crashes around here are caused by two types. Elderly people who shouldn’t be driving and 65+ year old men in huge SUVs who think they own the bloody roads and refuse to move.

Each and every young driver is polite moves or works with you on narrow roads and is a bloody fab driver. I think it’s the idiots on the road you need to worry about not the young kids their test and licences are at more through now than ever before.

It’s doable.

No. It's hard enough for young drivers to actually learn to drive and get hold of tests. It costs a fortune to insure, tax and maintain/fuel even a basic second hand car these days.

The people involved in these incidents don't have licenses, don't have insurance, don't have tax and don't have any morals.

We shouldn't make it harder for decent young people to learn a valuable skill for life and work because there are lawless idiots about.

Two of the people in the car were 23 so probably wouldn't be affected by the proposed changes in the driving law.

I dont fully ubderstand why they stopped charging young men more for insurance? It used to be because they caused and had more accidents, which I dont think has changed?

I think it’s NZ where you can’t take any passengers that don’t live at the same address/not immediate family after 10pm/before 5am within 12mths of passing your test. I think thats sensible and not too draconian. They’d had many fatalities of cars full of young people that prompted the change. They can start learning at 16 though.

It won’t stop the 15yr old idiots stealing cars and driving like absolute morons though - there’s no laws for that kind of feral cretin unfortunately.

The law won’t stop people like that. It’s illegal to have that many people in that car and to drive the wrong way but they still did it

Because men got angry that women wanted equality and demanded that they get ‘equal’ car insurance - meaning the lower women’s rate. To stop the argument the insurance companies simply raised women’s insurance to meet the men’s higher costs.

The law doesn’t need to change as the law doesn’t make any difference to these types of people .

That is what I thought had happened...
Maybe it is time to re-adjust that?

3 in the back and 2 in the front?

Plenty of older people drive badly-women over 30 seem to be the ones who drink-drive/park badly around here, and older men seem to be the ones who forget their indicators, so the stereotype of teenage boys driving badly doesn't tell the full story. And it's so hard for young people to find jobs, that banning driving means that a lot of night jobs will be off the table, unless public transport changes.
Let's be honest, they could work on bringing self-driving cars in much quicker, if they really wanted to.

I think it needs general enforcement and not just young people, though they should not be ignored.

My view of two categories of licence would make a small contribution, though it is targeted at reducing the number of SUVs and cars such as BMWs. You only have small car licences for young people or indeed anyone until they had a period with no convictions.

I'd also end the hardship reason not to ban someone, and for some motoring crimes a suspension of licence before the court hearing.

I actually would support young people being limited from driving until maybe the age of 21. maybe not in terms of not allowing them to drive but to have a cap on how powerful the car can be and enforcing black boxes. Where I live there are so many people in their late teens (ALWAYS young men) bombing it around with no regard for anyone else on the road. I actually had a go at a young lad last week who lives near me after he nearly crashed into me doing around 50 in a 20mph zone in our little cul-de-sac!

"I doubt the drivers of any age who are stupid enough to drive diwn the motorway the wrong way care would about passenger rules"

They weren't being stupid pet se. It is a deliberate tactic because they know any police pursuit will be called off.

I doubt criminals who are willing to take such risks will take any notice of any new driving rules.

Exactly! Not sure ‘legality’ would cross the minds of horrors like this.