Driving age rising to 18

That's the headline on the front page of the Daily Mail on thursday December 27th 2007!

Under new proposals, learners will still get their provisional licence at age 17 but the test will be so severe that they will, on average, require up to 500 hours of tuition in order to pass the new test as opposed to the approximately 100 hours of training they now undertake.

The new structure for the test, to be unveiled in a consultation document in 2008 will put more emphasis on issues such as avoiding reckless behaviour, hazard perception, over confidence and other failings. Candidates will have to master a range of new skills including parallel parking, reversing and a "three point" turn before they are allowed to take the test. Each mastered skill will be signed off by an instructor in a log book.

The new practical test will include measures not currently covered such as dealing with junctions, dual carriageway driving, driving at night, turning right and driving on high speed roads.

Recent research has shown that the brains of young people are too immature to drive safely as the frontal lobe which is responsible for emotion, risk taking and decision making, is not properly developed until the age of 25. The proposed structure of the new test is shown below but may obviously change before it is published in a final form:

• Beefed up theory test
• A more structured learner syllabus
• Log book. To be filled in as key skills are mastered
• Each degree of "competence" signed off by instructor over about a year
• Practical test to include experience of high speed roads and other hazards
• More "real world" situations such as turning right, driving on rural roads and driving at night

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