Hello World!
I have been away from the blogging world for several months now. Before I start I'd like to take this oppurtunity to thank the Douglas Macmillain Hospice for helping my brave nan through the last days of her battle with cancer. Love you always, Nan.
Ok, so I stumbled across a rather interesting and particularly infuriating article on confused.com just the other day entitled 'Not being allowed to drive after 11pm; It could happen'. I was curious, so I had a nosey.
The Pitch
It seems that Road Safety Charity 'BRAKE' have begun a campaign to change the way that driving liscences are issued. Doing this could, apparently, cut road deaths in the uk by giving drivers 'better training'.
As expected, this is of course targeted at young drivers only. The campaign director from BRAKE explained in a rather stereotypical, ignorantly over-generalised manor that - 'Young drivers and their behaviour hold the key to the future extent of the carnage on the roads ... one quarter of all road deaths and serious injury are caused by young drivers'
BACK UP A SECOND
One quarter of all road deaths? That's less than half. Who causes the other three quarters? Oh yes! people who are not considered 'young drivers'. Maybe its the guy who has been driving for 14 years and still thinks its ok to reverse out of his driveway onto a dual carriageway? Perhaps the old woman who is being considerate by going 20 miles an hour on a national road causing the idiot in the bmw or subaru impreza behind to over-take on a blind bend? Or maybe its the people in the right hand lane of the motor way who are technically 'overtaking' people, but are doing it at the highly unnecessary speed of 120 miles per hour, who then notice that this is their exit? But I know that there are some, more than enough, bag-headed idiots who have just passed their test, kit our their 13 year old renault clio and go drag racing on car parks and residential roads. And its these kind of douchebags who are causing the majority of considerate younger drivers all this grief.
The Restrictions
So, what exactly are BRAKE suggesting... get ready for the most ridiculous list in history...
1) A minimun learning period of one year - This the first money making part of this endeavour. I passed my test in 26 lessons and spent more than enough money. The average driving lesson is around £21. Therefore I spent £546 on my lessons. If everyone was forced to learn for a year, we would all spend £1092 on learning to drive using the one-hour-per-week basis, minus theory tests and driving tests. No thanks.
2)The first TWO YEARS of driving will be restricted, and a second driving test will be taken after these two resticted years - for what reason? If you ask a 30 or even a 60 year old driver to take another driving test then they would probably fail because, after the crap-your-pants hour of your life where you sit in a car with a total stranger who is holding and writing on a clip board (dun dun duuuunn), people find their own style of driving.
3) Restrictions on the time of day young people can drive - namely not after 11pm. Where's the sense in this? Your stopping them from driving on the road at times when there is hardly anybody on the road. Not that its right to race on residential streets, but if some fool of a person fancies a race, surely its better at 2am when the roads are empty than between 4 and 6 when the roads are full? Also, whats the point in having a car to get home safely from nights out or visiting friends if you have to be in earlier due to a curfew set by a government that groups all young people behind the wheel of a car with the same seriousness as a terrorist attack? Anyway...
4) Lower alcohol limits for young drivers. - If they can afford to lower the limit, it should be for everyone. In my opinion, anyone ever found drink driving should be banned from driving for life, and thats that.
5) No young passengers. - For crying out loud! How can you help the planet by encouraging the use of public transport and car-sharing, and then ban young people, who need to get to their oh-so-important educational insitutes from giving each other lifts. This will increase the number of young people with vehicles! Plus, driving your friends round and going to new places is all part of a young persons driving experience.
6) No motorway access for one year. - How the floofles are police suppossed to monitor that?
And whats the point in having a car if you can only drive around the local roundabout for hours on end trying to get malteasers to roll across your dash board, but you have no friends in the car to help you when you drop the last one, because your not allowed to drive them around, then again its almost 11pm so you'd better get home quick sharp. But down worry, all these 'helpful' restrictions may very well reduce your car insurance by a few quid. so you will only be paying nine hundred and ninety nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine pounds! Right on!
