Before I had my own blog here, I did in fact trial a few blog entries on my myspace page last year. One of the first blogs I did was on road safety and young people following the death of four teenage girls on a road near Llangynidr. At the time I suggested that it may be a possibility for young drivers to take additional courses after a number of years in order to ‘upskill’ or to improve their driving ability. A father of one of the teenagers who died in the Llangynidr crash said that more stringent measures should be in place before new drivers take to the road, and that they should log a certain amount of hours before driving alone. I was especially interested in this at the time of writing, as I had experienced a nasty crash on the Rhigos Mountain- a stretch of road which I sincerely hope Ieuan Wyn Jones as the new Economic and Transport Minister can improve over the next few years!
Last week, new measures were recommended in a report by MP’s, and I welcome the report’s suggestions that a zero alcohol limit for newly qualified drivers is implemented. If the committee has its way, newly qualified drivers will also be prohibited from carrying passengers aged 10-20 between 10pm and 5am.
I don’t disagree per se that there should be a 12 month minimum learning period outlined in the report, but I believe that if the learning process is extended, then it must be done so constructively- extending training to Motorways and practise during unfavourable weather conditions. An area which also needs to be considered if learning is extended to 12 months is that of financing such lessons, and the capacity for those from lower socio- economic backgrounds to afford privately funded tutoring for an extended period of time( if they take private tutoring, that is).
Any new measures will be difficult to police, of course but so many young people are victims of road accidents that its necessary to initiate more effective, workable rules. This shouldn't be about stigmatising young people in any way, but an effort to recognise that young people need to be protected. If you ask many 17 year olds, I am sure that they will accept many of the suggestions above, but I can guarantee that they will not be favourable to the plan to stop people from receiving a full license until they are 18. I would be inclined to say that there needs to be a streamlining of policy. Either a young person starts to learn to drive at 17, and can receive a license at 17, or they wait until they are 18. There is no point introducing an age limit that does not necessarily stop the rise in young people’s involvement in car accidents.
You can’t stop young people from learning to drive, but perhaps( controversially) we should be developing our young people’s interest in other areas so that receiving driving lessons does not equate to that of which is required of a 17 year old today. After all, if we are to combat climate change, we need to encourage young people to be creative in embracing other forms of renewable, and energy efficient transport systems, not create more gas guzzling enthusiasts.
2 comments:
I think many young people would agree that being forced to take that extra time to learn or 'upskill' is ultimately a good Idea. I'd like to see laws to build on what already exists, making it mandatory to take the 'pass plus' course, ensuring all drivers can handle tough driving situations.
One proposal that went down like a lead balloon amongst my mates was the one about having no passengers at night. One point that was raised was that for many young people, the transport infrastructure just isnt there to allow them to get to the cinema, pizza hut etc and that the car is their little bit of freedom.
It's great that people are finally talking about this though.
fair point about the evening driving. I think the committee's view on this is that many young people are driving their friends back after a night out on the town. Again- if the train links were sufficient, and trains didn't stop at 9pm ( as they do from Cardiff to Merthyr) then perhaps that would go some way to solving the problem.
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