New Driving Laws, Rumours, Truth Or Guess-work?

[David]

I apologise for the new thread (Will move to small questions if a problem). Does anyone know the deal on the possible new driving laws in the UK? By this I mean, the speculation that the goverment will introduce law that you must have a years worth of driving lessons before you can take your test? Everyone seems to have a different story to tell. How quickly could this be implemented if it is true? (Ive heard next year?) I really need to know as I want to take driving lessons soon but only if this law will be introduced, as I want to spend my summer wages on a new motorbike/test.

Thanks,

Dave

[JonMack]

A years worth of lessons, what does that even mean?

So between your first lesson and taking your test it has to be a year? In which case you could do one a month for 12 months and then do it? Or you have to do 8760 hours worth of lessons before you can take your test?

[David]

A years worth of lessons, what does that even mean?

So between your first lesson and taking your test it has to be a year? In which case you could do one a month for 12 months and then do it? Or you have to do 8760 hours worth of lessons before you can take your test?

This seems to be under great discussion, from what I believe is you have to drive with L plates for a year (with a full license holder).

[Fish-Finger-er]

This seems to be under great discussion, from what I believe is you have to drive with L plates for a year (with a full license holder).

erm, its all bollox.

well it isnt, the government are talking about it,

but they talk about a lot of stuff, no plans have been set in stone, it would then have to go through both houses of parliment, assuming it would go straight through without objection itd be 2 years which it wouldnt purely for the case of rural economy and the difficulty of implementing, it would then take 18 months to 3 years to implement minimum.

so your looking at around 4 or more years as a bare minimum.

only laws which can pass straight through without much discussion are those wanted by the government in the interest of public safety with heavy public backing, with no reasoning for objection, after a large tragedy (dunblane and handguns for example)

it took over 3 years to make GHB an illegal drug, fox hunting took several years to sort out, the smoking ban, took a year or so to come in after it was passed through the houses of parliment, which this law hasnt been through yet.

[Dan-Walker]

erm, its all bollox.

well it isnt, the government are talking about it,

but they talk about a lot of stuff, no plans have been set in stone, it would then have to go through both houses of parliment, assuming it would go straight through without objection itd be 2 years which it wouldnt purely for the case of rural economy and the difficulty of implementing, it would then take 18 months to 3 years to implement minimum.

so your looking at around 4 or more years as a bare minimum.

only laws which can pass straight through without much discussion are those wanted by the government in the interest of public safety with heavy public backing, with no reasoning for objection, after a large tragedy (dunblane and handguns for example)

it took over 3 years to make GHB an illegal drug, fox hunting took several years to sort out, the smoking ban, took a year or so to come in after it was passed through the houses of parliment, which this law hasnt been through yet.

well thats sorted then lol

as long as i can pass in time its ok

[Fish-Finger-er]

yea, no one, at all, knows when its coming in, but you can be sure, its a law, it will be contested, and it wont go straight through the procedures needed to turn it into a law, and even if it did, it would still take a couple of years.

[Boswell]

A years worth of driving lessons! The average price for an hours lesson is £20! Who can afford that!

[Robwalker]

Look up the laws on learning to drive in New Zealand. There is talk of introducing a similar sort of scheme into the UK. So no you will not need a years worth of lessons. You will pass your test and then it will work on a sort of probationary system.

Found on a imigration website, gives you the basic idea.

NZ has what they call a graduated driver training system. First you have to sit a multi choice theory test. If you pass that, you get a learner's licence, which allows you to learn to drive on the road with a supervisor, someone who has held a full licence for two years.

After six months, you can sit your first practical driving test. If you pass that, you earn your restricted licence - this allows you to drive on your own, but not between the hours of 10pm and 5am, and you're not allowed to carry passengers. (Family members do not count as passengers.)

Depending on your age, and whether or not you've taken a defensive driving course, between three and 18 months later you can sit your final practical test. If you pass that you get your full licence and can drive at any time and take passengers.

[Matthew_Gibson]

A years worth of driving lessons! The average price for an hours lesson is £20! Who can afford that!

Mine went up to £22 as my cars a diesel. My mum DID go halfs as I can pennyless

I've had almost a year of driving lessons, and I can say that I feel better off. At least If I do anything wrong its fed back to me, so I can do something about it. But people who pass ofter 4 lessons, what good did passing quick do them. Apart from being able to brag. IMO everyone should be made to take at least 6 months worth of lessons.

But I think not being able to drive before and after a certain time is a bit crap. For example. If your taking the missus to the pics, and it gets out at 10.30-11. you see some mate who were going to walk home. you can't offer then a lift. SO they could be in dangour of bein mugged/raped/ etc etc (you get the pic) but if you offered them a lift and got stopped they wouldnt give a shit. theyll just want you to pay up.

There getting pretty tight in my town, if you are cort driving around Mc Donalds at a certain time, if you are pissing about you can spend the night in the cells. If you do buy anything. you have 30 mins to eat it and go home.

[Has anyone seen my shoe?]

Nah tis bollacks as of yet, although were not far off paying for a year of lessons now...

[tipsy Jock]

The theory behind it sounds good. E.g. a minimum amount of hours before you can take your test. The amount of people that just take test after test is ridicolous. I wish at the same time they would throw in compulsory lessons on motorway and country road driving!

[Balman]

I understand the logic of it and to be fair if i had passed already id be like oh yeah those youngsters that think they no it all ect but as it stands now im 16 and 17 in sept if they managed to change it befor then id be gutted to say the least wating 17 years for freedom then being told no wait longer. Fair play and all but at they should at least wait till iv passed before making rash decidions haha i should be ok though.

Also if we had a years worth of lessons would insurance possabley decrease? If not you would have to be very well off to drive to afford both insurance and a years worth of lessons its got to the point now were acctully buying the car is the cheap part of driving im looking at spending under £1000 on my first car but its unlikey ill get insurance under £1000 not all of us are chavy boy racers

[MadManMike]

would insurance possabley decrease?

Doubt it, it would be good though - Insurance on even shite cars if you're under 25 is obscene.

[Luke Rainbird]

country road driving!

Living in nothing but lanes, hell yes!

The amount of retard drivers who are terrified of getting closer than 4ft from a hedge in fear of it biting is silly. The number of idiots who can't reverse is even more.

I swear they should make you reverse to the village if you're not local, just so they no you can drive backwards competently!

[Billy]

The only rumours about driving/learning to drive, are that the age might be going up to 18, so if you were born a certain year, you'll have to be 18. And, that theres gonna be really funny laws about when you've passed, something like you're not allowed to drive between 10PM and 6AM, you're not allowed to have passengers of a certain age range. I can't see any of it happening though, theres always bollocks rumours flying around about everything.

[mod_rider]

I heard strong rumours that it was you had to have 100 registered lessons before you could take your test. Personally it sounds like just another way for the government to make a few hundred million by taxing driving instructors more, and passing it off as improving road safety, 100 lessons is absurd. It doesn't take anyone 100 hours to learn to drive, if you can't after that you're not concentrating properly or something.

The way its going driving is going to become an increased luxury, with oil reaching the $120 a barrel mark at the moment. It's expected to rise towards $200 a barrel soon, pushing the price of petrol probably to double what it was 2 years ago.

I swear our whole country is going mad, ready to completely collapse.

I know its off topic, but think of how much stuff used to be compared to now, my house was about £90,000 8 years ago, petrol was around 70p a litre I think, and mars bars etc. were <30p. Now my house is worth just under £500,000, petrol is about £1.09 a litre, and mars bars are nearly 50p. I know they're little things, but it shows how much more expensive stuff is. And because the cost of living is going up, people are having to borrow more, which the banks can't keep doing as they're losing money, which means the government and bank of england have to sort it out which is sending them into debt, so they need to come up with new ways to make money e.g. taxing driving instructors who will give 100 lessons to each new driver.

That was completely off topic and is probably completely wrong, but that's how I see it, and it annoys me how this country is going.

Rant over haha.

As for driving, I don't think its confirmed or anything, listen to trials_punk_182