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As you may have seen last week, the Daily Mail conducted a poll that suggests nearly half of young drivers admit to being 'unsafe on the road' and that they do not know 'where to start with basic car maintenance.'
Obviously, this is a huge problem, and almost certainly a factor in why young drivers are more likely to be involved in accidents. So how do we help remedy this?
Clearly, we are not preparing new drivers well enough for life on the road, so does that mean the driving test is not robust enough? Well before we begin criticising the flaws in our system, let us look at how the British test compares with other driving tests. The UK is actually one of the harder places in the world to get a driving license.
In the USA for example, you can get a driving permit from as young as 14 in certain states, and the theory test is a short multiple choice test with no hazard perception. However, even that seems vastly more robust than the Mexican license, which requires simply the purchase of a license for about £30 at the age of 18.
Both the Columbian and French tests require you to drive a certain distance accompanied, before issuing you a full license. The Japanese test however, has the lowest pass rate of all at just under 35%. This is due to an incredibly strict test course, where drivers can fail for not staying left enough in the lane!
So although the UK test is not the hardest, it its far from the easiest. As a result, it doesn't need re-inventing, just tweaking. The test already includes a small section about car maintenance called 'show me, tell me'. In this section, the examiner will ask you two questions about basic vehicle checks. Perhaps it is this section that needs improving.
The test includes questions regarding how to check tyre pressure or oil levels but, it doesn't go as far as to make sure you know how to re-fill the oil or change a tyre. We think that if it included more than two questions or included a practical aspect, maybe new drivers would be better on the road ahead.
The rise of telematics has given new drivers another option when it comes to improving their safety. Through either installing a telematics device or taking out a telematics based insurance policy, new drivers can monitor their driving performance as well as gaining access to support with things like basic car maintenance.
As always, we love to hear your thoughts and opinions, how would you help new drivers?
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