arwen

Wonder if there is a study of this... Percentage of 'winter learners' crashing at night vs 'summer learners' ? Could be interesting! Personally I never had a lesson at night, or even dusk, they were all during the day, in the rain! But i found a massive difference when driving at night for the first time. Took me a good few nights of just driving to tesco and back (about 3 miles) to get used to it! The practical test needs a major revamp, and retesting done periodicaly through your life would be beinfical. Look how many changes have been made to the highway code in last 10 years, and how many older drivers know about priority or dealing with cross roads? The one key thing I have learned since passing my test is how to read other drivers. and guess what they are about to do. Some drivers may 'know the code' but just choose to ignore it, most instructors do not prepare you for that!

Mostly better education/scare tatics would cure most people from acting stupid. But there will always be boy/girl racers that just want to show off.

As a 'young' driver I find this completely stupid. Although i do belive at least one manadtory 'night time' lesson while learning, it is completely different to driving during the day. As for a limit on the engine size? Also daft imo. I first tried to learn in a 1.2 astra when i was 18 and i hated it. I felt it was sluggish to respond, under powered, and very frustrating when you press down on the accelerator and it take a good few seconds for it to kick in. After that I got some lessons in a 2.2 turbo Accord and a 1.9 Ibiza. Much better response, and much more comfertable and so i felt more relaxed and confident in my driving. Just because a person prefers a bigger engine does not mean its all about the speed. There is a lot more to consider! Everyone has to learn, and banning an age group from somthing is only going to make things worse. Oh, and I also passed first time, had no crashes or accidents, and I drive at all times of the day, and in most condisions (snow included!) unless it is complelty dreadfull outside!

If you go into comet/curries and have a look at the LED tv's you will instantly see the difference, they are superb! Although with the samsung ones, you do have to play around with the settings to get it looking that good when you get it home. The defaults are horrible :-/ Plasma Pannasonics also get my vote!