The driving age is set to rise

The driving age could be potential be raised to 18 as part of a major overall, if the way driving licenses are granted. Since last year there has been a lot of talks about the raising the age to 18. The plan is that provisional licences will still be issued from the age of 17, but it will take a year to pass a much tougher practical test. This means that it would means the minimum age that a new driver could realistically drive on the roads without supervision would be 18.

The idea behind doing this is to cut the number of deaths caused on Britain’s roads by novice drivers. As a young driver at first I diasgreed with the idea, thinking why punish all young drivers just because of a few young stupid drivers. But then when I looked into the subject more I found that research by the Department for Transport (DfT) suggests that a 12-month learning period would save up to 1,000 deaths and serious injuries and up to 7,000 casualties a year.

1,000 deaths a year is a rediculous amount of young people dying and I don’t think by just rasing the age to 18 will make that much of an impact on young drivers. This isn’t such a small majority as we may first believe.

I also think that elderly drivers need to be taking into consideration though. Some older drivers didn’t even have to take a driving test, 50 years ago or more there were a lot less cars on the road. Older drivers are hazards on the roads they have a lot slower reaction speeds and failing eye sights and hearing, which worrys me more than young drivers.

Shopping Day

At uni I tend to wait until I have literally nothing to eat until I go food shopping. And today was that day, but without the luxury of my car.

The walk to Sainsbury’s was pleasant enough. Shopping was bearable. Yet the walk back wasn’t. When shopping I forgot that I would have to carry it back, so I brought the usual, as well as food, heavy items such a bottle of coke, wine etc. Also my packaging wasn’t very thought out. In one carrier bag was the wine and coke. So after a few minutes of walking the bags were starting to get pretty heavy and I was seriously worried that the handles of the carrier filled with my wine was going to break.

Ok so I made it back in one piece but my hands were starting to hurt and the stress I went through of hoping my bag wouldn’t break was not fun.

The Hard Shoulder Scheme - the most stupid idea in the world.

Recently The Hard Shoulder Scheme has been tested to help with congestion and cut journey times. The scheme basically is letting drivers drive in the hard shoulder. The hard shoulder scheme has been adopted as a quick and cheap alternative to road widening because the Highways Agency’s road building programme is appernetly more than £3 billion over budget.

Yet as a driver who regualary uses heavy conjested motorways I think this is the most stupid idea in the world. I think it is an idea that will cost lives, they claim our safety will not be compromised, but how can it not be?

If you break down you need the hard shoulder. If one car breaks down while the shoulder is being used as relief then you're worse off than you were before, as traffic tries to filter into the normal left lane. And we all know how shitty drivers are about you 'pushing in' even on designated filter lanes. And what about accidents.

Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: “Our reservations about using the hard shoulder are that in a major incident it may take emergency services longer to reach the scene as well as the practicalities of where drivers are able to stop their vehicles if they break down."

If all lanes are opened, including the hard shoulder, and a bad accident happens, the traffic stops completely so please could someone explain how emergency vehicles would reach the accident scene. With all lanes being used, cars would have literally no where to go. And if somebody was in a critical condition, surely the quicker the emergency services are there the better.

Overall I think it’s a stupid quick fix and hope that the scheme never actually is brought in.

The Driver

At my flat I am the driver. I’m not the only one who has a car at uni but the only one who can actually drive, so this makes me the driver. Any where we go, I drive obviously. When I told my flatmates about my plan they didn’t seem best pleased. “Really? Why would you want to that?” was one response.

Last night we planned to go into Guildford for a meal, a few drinks then on to a club. Then I reminded everyone I wasn’t driving. So the train it is. The train station is about 20 minutes walk, everybody knows this, but we can never be ready in time. So with 15 minutes till our train left I half walked, half stumbled, (no I wasn’t drunk, just in heels) and even did a bit of running to the train station,.

We made the train but it wasn’t a fun journey. Sitting on the train I was feeling hot and sweaty and my feet hurt, not a good feeling to have at the very beginning of the night. Oh well at least not driving I could drink, or so I thought.

The meal was great, but by the time we had walked to the restaurant, got a table ordered it and eaten it was getting late and we had the last train to get back. One quick drink and back off to catch the train. Sitting on the train it occurred to me, I only had one drink, I could have driven!! Then to top it off, we got off at Farnham and it’s raining, you couldn’t make this up. So we decided a taxi back to the Student Union bar it is, seeing as we couldn’t go to a club that would have to do for a dance.

The SU looked pretty busy which was good, but on our way in the door man stops us and refuses us entry, apparently they close at 1 but stop letting people in at 12, it was 12.04! So back to the flat we go, sore feet, sober, overall not the best night. I miss driving already.

Goodbye Car

Hello and welcome to my blog. For my online assessment I have set myself a challenge to give up my car. Yes, completely give up my car for two weeks, or as long as I last. This may seem like a pretty easy challenge to some of you, but trust me, for me it’s not. I love driving and am one of those people who drives everywhere, yes literally everywhere.

I started learning to drive when I was 17 and passed 2nd time, all the best drivers pass 2nd time. Since passing my test over 3 years ago, I have only been without my car once and I still remember how hard that was.

It was August last year; a few weeks before moving to University when I was involved in four car pile up on the M20. The accident wasn’t my fault and was unavoidable; fortunately nobody was seriously injured, except my car. When the Police and Highway guys turned up at the scene I was told they would be towing my car away and to collect my belongings out of it as I would never see it again! This was a very traumatic time for me. Yes the accident was horrible, but worst was seeing all the money I had saved and spent on that car gone in minutes and I now had no car and the prospect off travelling to University, back and forth on public transport.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not against public transport, I feel why use if you can drive. My insurance covered the accident, but I was faced with around a 2 week wait until my cheque for the write off arrived. They say having a car gives you freedom and yes they are right. I forgot what it was like running to the bus stop, paying out taxi fares and begging my parents for a lift.

So why do it again? The news has been filled with car related stories lately such as the strikes in Scotland and petrol shortages as well as the black box recorders, so I thought I would give up my car and see it goes using this blog, as well as some of my opinions on other driving related issues.

Now I’ve got walking shoes on and bus change in hand and I’m set to go.