Sometimes, just occasionally, inspiration comes along and in a flash you have the answer to a whole raft of problems, all at once. It was a bit like that for me one morning as I fought my way up the A23/A27 slip road trying desperately to move from the right hand lane across three lanes of traffic to the left hand filter lane for the A27 Westbound whilst the other drivers coming up the inside aggressively accelerated to prevent me from doing so.
We all know that our roads are too crowded. We all know that there are many, many bad drivers on the road. Most of us know that we’re killing the planet by driving too many cars, and that we should stop. Many of us aspire to improving our health and that of the planet by cycling everywhere, but it’s made harder by belligerent car drivers and dangerous cyclists, as well as the Great British Weather. We also know in our heart of hearts that it would be better for the environment, and probably for our souls, if we all took public transport but we’re also aware that it’s a less than perfect transport solution for a number of reasons. First, there’s the underinvestment, partly caused by a lack of bums on seats; second the fact that it has to share space with all the other more dominant forms of transport including all those idiot bad drivers in their cars… who, incidentally also make our roads more dangerous, cause more accidents, cost the NHS, emergency services and British businesses lots of money, and generally cause misery and stress.
So where’s the inspiration in all this? It’s quite simple actually. Just get the UK Government’s so-called Driving Standards Agency to do its job: raise driving standards. In short, make the driving test a lot more difficult, and the required standard of driving far higher. Then less people will pass, and there’ll be less drivers on the roads. Anyone who has had a road traffic accident in which fault was either theirs or inconclusive should be forced to retake the driving test, as should the elderly, annually. Anyone who took their driving test before, for example, 1985, should also retake their test, and the general population should take a fresh test every 10 years.
The result: less cars on the road, more use of public transport, more income to public transport, more investment in public transport; safer roads, less cost to NHS, less disruption to surgical schedules by emergencies; and the nation would be far more likely to hit its carbon emission targets with fewer cars sitting in traffic jams caused by selfish twats who drive like morons on our overcrowded roads.
So, over to you… what do you think?
27th January 2010 at 2:41 pm
Not completely with you on this one Jon.
The elderly, people who have driven more than 10 years and those who took the test before 1985 are far from the most lethal car drivers. Indeed as the driving test has been tightened then post test driving standards have, arguably, declined.
But I think you might agree that the real danger to anybody on two wheels or the pavement is not the driver’s skill – but his/her attitude. That’s a bit harder to fix. IMHO one of the problems is the increasing management (traffic lights/lane control etc) that bottles up a driver’s frustration. Many younger drivers lack the negotiating skills older hands learnt who eyeball each other at junctions and roundabouts.
What to do? Not sure.
One idea is to make a cycling proficiency test mandatory before you can apply for a motorbike licence and a motorbike licence to be mandatory before you can apply for car licence and so on. Then at least car and lorry drivers would be more aware of the vulnerability of other road users.
5th March 2010 at 9:36 am
As I said, Stuart, the first category of people who should be made to retake a test are those who have caused road traffic accidents. As for driver frustration, that would be alleviated if the roads were less overcrowded and with less bad drivers around. We didn’t used to have such a road-rage problem when I was a kid in the 1970s and even into the ’80s. I still think a more difficult driving test is the way forward, with more circumstances under which a re-education & retest programme should be mandatory.