Improved driver education is the answer

It looks like new restrictions are to come into force for young drivers. If you’ve finished your driving lessons and recently passed your test you will be prevented from carrying friends, though you may be allowed to drive your immediate family around. Should young people have these restrictions placed upon them or is improved traffic education the most effective way to keep the roads safe?

One of the new proposals concerns having a complete ban on carrying passengers. This may stop young drivers gaining the real world driving experience they need. The new driver will have never driven alone before. Either a parent or friend, your driving instructor and finally the test examiner will have been in the car with you while you learned to drive. Driving accompanied while learning and then being forced to drive alone immediately after the test can be a contributing factor in traffic accidents.

Those first few journeys with nobody else in the car can be a frightening experience. Nervous drivers can present a high risk on the road. If you’re in busy traffic with no one there for support it can become overwhelming. Having a friend in the car who has some driving experience can be helpful. Family members can help but can also add to the tension by being critical and commenting on the drive. Driving is supposed to be enjoyable and the best way to achieve this is to be well trained before the test and have a positive attitude at the wheel.

Young drivers at risk.

It would be difficult to enforce these restrictions as there is a distinct lack of traffic police on our roads. Young drivers would need to be pulled over and their license checked to see if the restrictions applied to them. Any passengers in the car would possibly need to prove that they were immediate family members. This would be a long process and the cost of police time would be substantial.

If you took driving lessons in the summer months then chances are you will have never driven in the dark before passing your test. There may also be a ban on driving during the hours of darkness. Some training in driving at night before passing a test would be beneficial. Roads are much quieter at night so present less risk from other traffic. People who work night shifts may need to drive to get to work as there are few buses through the night. A short post test night driving course would surely be better than restrictions.

Young employees may be required to drive unattended. These restrictions could lead to limited job prospects until a time when the person can legally drive alone. As young people are important to our economy it is important they can drive as part of a job. Surely the answer is improved driver education with road safety courses starting early in schools. Attitude is all important in safe driving and this has to be introduced at a young age.

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