So what next… Dignity still sounds good 
You can give them all the advice they need but my old man always said “you can’t put an old head on young shoulders”.
Not forgetting this one either tinyurl.com/ppnv2dv The oldest step-son thought he was the bogs bollox behind the wheel (he’s 24 now, been driving 3 years) up until a few years ago, tear arse’in about, seat back nearly horizontal, no seat belt texting and everything else when a woman in a BMW X5 pulled out in front of him…he hit her car (minor damage) destroyed his Focus…no injuries to anybody and he instantly calmed down after that…especially when it was proved that prior to the smash, he’d been speeding and his insurance rocketed!
Things that stick in my mind from my dear dad who taught me all the good (and bad) habits on the road.
He said know where you are going and at what is a safe speed, if you don’t, slow down.
The second bit of advice was to my step son on one of his early driving lessons.
Stood by the car, my dad wagging his finger at a spotty 17 year old step son, he says in a low, firm and scary voice.
“Don’t you ever drink and drive, never, ever, ever”
A wry smile came in reply. Dad repeated.
“No, I’m not f-ing around, don’t you ever drink and drive”, and stared him out.
Cue a very subdued step son driving home and guess what, he never drove while under the influence…
Cheers
Paul
First thing I did was take the radio out of it for the first two months and banned earphones. Told her we would pay her insurance for first three years unless she had an accident then it was down to her . Limited her to a 1litre micra. No street cred, no high power. Cost 200 quid. So if she bent it it wouldn’t matter.
Lastly her boyfriends I always told them that my daughter was the most precious thing he would ever have in a car. If anything happened to her and it was because he was driving like a prat he would have to answer to me. At 6.3 and 20 stone. We mutually understood each other. One wheelspun off the drive. His next visit wasn’t his favourite
You can get telematics installed in cars by insurance companies specially for inexperienced drivers.
If they drive badly…up goes the premium!
welshmatt:
Pwyll:
welshmatt:
The roads around the Brecon are notoriously badNo, they are not! Hundreds of thousands of people drive on them every day without crashing. There is no such thing as a bad road, only bad driving.
to a new driver (passed his test 3 days before the crash) it’s a bad road,going from town driving to driving up and around the brecons it’s a big difference but i do agree that a bad driver makes a bad road
There lies the problem, young and inexperienced new drivers, know…and want to go fast, but don’t understand or realize how different a vehicle handles when going at speed, knowledge of stability and braking distance only comes with experience. unfortunately some don’t gain that experience.
Youngsters are always gonna behave like err youngsters. No amount of the old ■■■■ harping on about safe distances, speeds etc is going to make a difference, they’ll just nod as their eyes glaze over because they’re young, invincible and know best.
They WILL crash, and as a parent you can only hope that the cosmic lottery grants that their crash will be serious enough to shake them to their boots, but not serious enough that they or anyone else is injured. It’s a rite of passage for them and it’s torment for us parents but t’was ever thus.
I started teaching my 17yr old ■■■■■■■ her birthday 2 weeks ago and she is getting the hang of it pretty quick, but has also had a year on her scooter. The main bit of advice I gave her for the scooter was assume every else is out to kill you, and never never get up the inside of lorry or hang around alongside one. I think she will be more sensible than I ever was.
My condolences to the the Families,
I want to make an observation, not about the accident, but about the cars that our children are driving, do the instructors teach!!! how powerfull modern cars are, even a 1 litre engine has the performance of a car that a few years ago would have over 2 litres, I have a 1.6 litre which could out do the 2.8 litre Granada I had in every way up to 100 mph. in my opinion, the power to weight ratio has made all the difference,
Nothing you can say, they wont listen. Everyone has to grow up in their own way. When I was young I drove like a total ■■■, but it wasn’t the accidents that stopped me, it was getting to a certain age and losing that sense of immortality that most have when young. I do however think they’re could be a place for a law on how many passengers someone under 21 can carry. Or rather the age of the passengers. So many lives destroyed, it’s so very sad, but its always happened sadly.
Was looking around a new Ford Fiesta Red Edition for the Mrs the other day and the 1litre Ecoboost comes in at a shade under 140bhp! With a little bit of mapping etc, that could easily reach 170bhp I reckon…wayyyyy to much for a noob IMO. Her old 1.6 Zetec S (60 plate) was around 120 and that was a nippy little thing! Scarey thing with technology advancing so rapid (this bit is C&P’d) Ford has a bold claim for its newly invigorated Fiesta Zetec S Red and Black Editions: they have a greater specific power output than a Bugatti Veyron! As with this ‘2 year experience before getting a job on the heavies’, I think ‘kids’ should be limited to little diddy engines, restricted to say 60mph, ‘black box’ gadgetry fitted as standard for maybe 1 or 2 years before having those restrictions lifted…have a bang and the gadgets stay on for an extended period of 6 months or so, depending on severity…is that a similar scenario for a motorbike license, before you can have a proper bike? Restricted to 500cc or whatever for a while?
I agree with Luke, I had a bad crash when I was 18, driving like an arse. Made a right mess, lucky to get out alive. Didn’t learn though, bought faster cars, kept tear-arsing around. Then one day, something clicked in my head, what’s the point? Since then I haven’t had the urge to speed.
The problem with modern cars (and modern lorries?) is that they handle and brake far better now than even 20 years ago and require almost no learned skill to keep them on the road in any weather, with lots of electronic gadgets designed to keep the vehicle from sliding, fair enough you might think.
Unfortunately the laws of physics are still there, and when the modern car eventually loses grip and heads off into the scenery, then the speeds and resulting impacts are at much higher speeds, in lorry world we see increasingly that whilst they can corner ever quicker without the thing folding up it doesn’t stop 'em falling over,
Go back even 20 years and the chances are a youngster was driving round in a 10 year old ■■■■■■ or Golf sized car, it may not even have had ABS and almost certainly no form of traction control, very soon the enthusiastic driver found out how low the limits of adhesion really were (and the real difference between a tyre and a ditchfinder), the brave or foolish youngster who bought an E30/36 BMW found out pretty quickly that any throttle input at all on a wet bend could see the ends swapping instantly, yet modern RWD cars can be floored on slippery roundabouts and driven to the very limits without a care in the world cos the electrics will sort it all out…until one day they don’t.
We’d have been no better jumping into these fast cars as youngsters either, in a way were were lucky, we found out at relatively mild speeds just what little grip there really is on damp especially salted roads at certain times and temperatures, we’ve all lost grip as youngsters, i have, but due to the cars limitations at speeds where you stood a chance of recovering it.
spent many a night tearing round the one way system in whitley bay trying to do lap after lap and beat the others.
then somehow I grew up a bit and slowed slightly!!
I do agree though that cars are now faster and handle much better than what I had in my day (1.3 metro). even some of the fast cars 205 gti etc are slow by a modern 1.4turbo now.
Simple but controversial solution to all this!!!
Raise the minimum driving age!!!
However I have seen plenty of erm…“older” drivers out there that are the other end of the scale, driving around barely out of 1st gear, IMO they are equally dangerous as the “boy/girl racers”.
Again, simple solution, withdraw driving licences at 70 and get the bus!!
that was a typical comment from the young and stupid . why should i surrender my license now i’m over 70 ? i have 50+ years of driving experience and i am far more aware of my surroundings on the road . my problem is the younger " i’m immortal " generation who think they can multitask behind the wheel . come back and repeat that statement when/if you reach 70 .
I must admit I think once you hit 70 you should be each year be made to take an hour with an ADI to check you are not a liability on the road.
Claretmac:
Again, simple solution, withdraw driving licences at 70 and get the bus!!
70 is no age, you’ll hit it soon enough, if you’re lucky. Sweeping generalisations help no one. But should you still feel this way when you hit 70 you’re more than welcome to surrender your licence…
Juddian:
The problem with modern cars (and modern lorries?) is that they handle and brake far better now than even 20 years ago and require almost no learned skill to keep them on the road in any weather, with lots of electronic gadgets designed to keep the vehicle from sliding, fair enough you might think.Unfortunately the laws of physics are still there, and when the modern car eventually loses grip and heads off into the scenery, then the speeds and resulting impacts are at much higher speeds, in lorry world we see increasingly that whilst they can corner ever quicker without the thing folding up it doesn’t stop 'em falling over,
Go back even 20 years and the chances are a youngster was driving round in a 10 year old ■■■■■■ or Golf sized car, it may not even have had ABS and almost certainly no form of traction control, very soon the enthusiastic driver found out how low the limits of adhesion really were (and the real difference between a tyre and a ditchfinder), the brave or foolish youngster who bought an E30/36 BMW found out pretty quickly that any throttle input at all on a wet bend could see the ends swapping instantly, yet modern RWD cars can be floored on slippery roundabouts and driven to the very limits without a care in the world cos the electrics will sort it all out…until one day they don’t.
We’d have been no better jumping into these fast cars as youngsters either, in a way were were lucky, we found out at relatively mild speeds just what little grip there really is on damp especially salted roads at certain times and temperatures, we’ve all lost grip as youngsters, i have, but due to the cars limitations at speeds where you stood a chance of recovering it.
I think the whole small light car thing has a lot to answer for both in terms of young people getting themselves into bad situations and the results for all concerned.IE small light cars have silly power to weight ratios which provide a false sense of dynamics by making impossible overtakes or cornering ‘seem’ do able and change speed and direction too quick and if/when they do hit something/each other they fold up too easily.
This big Triumph ( 2.5 PI ) was the type of car that I was driving at 17 and I’d be lying if I denied that ‘sometimes’ I ‘might’ have driven it along similar lines.
youtube.com/watch?v=h6HW9prpbQg
But obviously better judgement and my father’s advice that any idiot can drive something flat out like they’ve stole it but the really clever bit is knowing when and where not to,was probably the difference between a successful introduction to driving as opposed to disaster.
By that logic I think I wouldn’t want a young son or daughter to be driving anything with less metal around them than a Merc E class and with nothing more powerful than the 4 cylinder 2.0 litre engine option in it. 