The driving test: Is it enough for young drivers?

Yesterday (4 Oct) saw the Association of British Insurers (ABI) call for "radical action" from the government to tackle the number of casualties among 17-24 year-olds, including proposals to ensure young drivers learn for a year before taking their test and restrictions on post-test driving.  But, if the driving test has been developed to ensure drivers have the skills to control a car, what is it that is missing?

Skill Acquisition and Driving Experience

The process of learning to drive can be split into two aspects: 1) the physical skills required to control the car; 2) the experience of how to act/react to changes in the road environment as they occur.

The skills to control a car have to be learned, and are memorised through hours of repetition as a learner driver.  These skills should become almost automatic by the time a driver takes their test.  In this respect, any driver who has passed their test should be able to control their vehicle to an acceptable level.

Experience is a very different matter though.  Learning to drive takes place in a more controlled environment, as there is always an instructor/parent etc. sitting in the seat next to you using their experience to warn the driver of any potential hazards.  Because of this supervision, the driver's behaviour is also likely to be different e.g. not listening to music.  However, once someone has passed their test, they no longer have someone sat next to them and they have to make all the decisions themselves.  Invariably, the stereo goes on and their friends are all invited for a ride.

Reducing the Risk

Statistics show that the risks reduce dramatically over the first 12 months of driving, so it is clear that valuable experience is learned relatively quickly, the problem is that 1 in 5 drivers will have a crash in the first 6 months of driving.

Over the past few years it seems that the government has tried to influence young drivers through insurance companies rather than legislative changes, but this has only led premiums to skyrocket while the problem has remained.  The only good thing to emerge from this, in my opinion, is the wider use of 'black box' technology as part of insurance premiums and/or to allow parents to monitor their children's driving more closely.

Therefore, I would agree with the ABI that "radical action" is required and that a graduated system of driver licensing should be introduced, to allow novice drivers to build up experience in lower-risk driving situations such as:

• restricting driving at night (23.00-04.00)
• restricting the carrying of passengers, particularly teenage passengers

I would also add restricting the engine size/power output of the vehicles they can drive.

However, I disagree with the ABI's suggestion that there should be a lower drink drive limit for young/novice drivers, as this gives the impression that it is fine for someone who is older or more experienced to have a drink and drive.  I think the limit should be reduced for everyone in line with most of the rest of Europe, but that's a different topic.

No, the current test is not enough

That's the simple answer anyway, as any change is not going to be popular with those young people it affects.  But we're not talking about a popularity contest, we're talking about people's lives, and the number of young people getting killed or injured on Britain's roads is unacceptable and something needs to be done about it.