I'm hearing what you are saying, I understand that there are parts of Bradford that lead the world in this sort of thing

A change of attitude is needed. I'm sure I read somewhere a few years ago that there was a marked correlation between the end of a Grand Prix and a slight, but measurable and predictable, increase in car accidents.

As long as cars are driven by d'keds like Clarkson and cohorts around a circuit to see if they can get the to step out, they're going to have idiots with no experience trying to do the same with their little chavmobile. I'm just glad there is no motorbike equivelent to Top Gear, the roads would be even more full of Rossi wannabes.
Yes, middle lane hoggers, ditherers and the rest are a problem, but they're nowhere near as much of an issue as spotty little herberts in souped up rotboxes thinking they can become the next Formula 1 champion by practicing on main roads.

Just to head back a few pages, am I the only one that believes Cod'eds assertations? Are the rest of you such poor drivers that you honestly can't see that forward planning, and a vehicle limited to 56mph, can make you a better driver? I'm in his shoes.. I've had advanced riding lessons - yes, you can do them on a scooter - and it changed so many of my bad habits and taught me a lot that I've not had a fraction of the scares and spills which scattered me across various roads previously.

The one thing we all forget - you have a driving 'licence', not a driving 'right'. It's time there was more emphasis put on this.

You can indeed do an advanced driving course, and an advanced driving test. There isn't an official one, but it is a service offered by various providers. It could be made compulsory to do such a course and pass the test within (say) 2 years of passing the basic test. With licence restrictions on engine cc, bhp and speed in the meantime.

That sounds like The Wincanton Under 18 Street Racing Club, only very little about their Novas is souped up, apart from a big bore exhaust. Their usual circuit is from Morrison's car park through the town to the Memorial Hall car park & back again. They were seriously peeved on Friday when the High Street was closed off for the Christmas Fair but by 10.00pm they were back in action again.

On the subject of uninsured drivers, I wouldn't wait until they could supply evidence that the vehicle is insured to get it out of the compound. Unless they could categorically prove that their vehicle was insured at the time they were stopped, then crush it, simple as. There are more than enough high-end & luxury cars being driven uninsured and it shouldn't matter who the driver is or what vehicle he drives. If it's uninsured, it becomes a little cube.

Would that it were just (or even primarily) young kids in their souped-up Corsas. Every bit as dangerous are the 30+ year old dick'eads in their Audi/BMW penis extensions driving like they own the road and gambling with the lives of other road users.

Another "modification" that should lead to a crushing is the fitting of "de-cat" pipes on the misguided thinking that by avoiding the flow-through catalytic convertor, they are somehow improving performance. Completely ignoring the fact that the engine manufacturer has spent $ millions optiising the engine and mangement system to work at peak efficiency WITH a cat. Remove it and you immediately lower engine back pressure which is not always a good thing.

For some unfathomable reason the UK still has a derrogation from EU regs on aftermarket exhaust systems and silencers

I'm fed up with it. I'm doing lots of motorway miles at the moment (it's that or flying), I just move out of the way, I don't need them ploughing into me. I was on the M4 a couple of weeks ago in the outside lane overtaking and I obviously didn't see the Merc coming because he was moving at Mach 2, but I swear I jumped becuase I thought there was a middle aged gentleman sat in my back seat. Never had anyone got that close to me, even in a car park. He wouldn't have even seen my brake lights because they were covered by the grill of his E class (which I saw was caved in when he went past - I wonder how that happened?).
Still easier to spot now that they are mostly driving white cars.

I've been thinking about taking my advanced driving test for a while now.

I've been driving for nineteen years so I'm really overdue a refresher, I've just had a look and at £139 it looks pretty reasonable.

Plus, I'm thirty eight in January, it's high time a started wearing driving gloves and leaving a Panama hat on the parcel shelf.

Which one would that be?

Such a radical shake up should require that anyone pre-that type of test to also take that test before being given back their license otherwise it's simply a waste of time! Hell we have people on the roads who have never passed ANY test!

Terrible, there really are some utter t*****s on the road. The list is endless when it comes to complaining about peoples driving habits, but overtaking without care can be fatal. Sickening.

Quote ="guess who"Which one would that be?'" Well I was thinking of this one. www.iam.org.uk/motorist/the-advanced-programme80 But if you know of something better, then depending on the cost I'd appreciate your advice.

Quote ="guess who"Which one would that be?'" Well I was thinking of this one. www.iam.org.uk/motorist/the-advanced-programme80 But if you know of something better, then depending on the cost I'd appreciate your advice.

I don't see the point of crushing the car, you just destroy a perfectly good car. Why not confiscate the car, sell it on to someone else and put the amount raised in to a fund to compensate those injured or bereaved as a result of the actions of uninsured drivers?

My sister was very nearly killed in a similar incident on New Year's Eve 1996ish. She had driven to a party and left early to get her house ready for a do she was hosting the next day. Some young lad in his dad's car overtook on a bend and hit her head on doing about 80 in a 30. He was driving some great big fuel guzzler that took the impact fairly well, she was in a 1.0 Citroen AX, which virtually lost its front end, flipped a few times and landed upside down. He fled the scene. He even had 2 lanes on his sides of the road.

Fortunately a taxi driver had seen it and stopped. He found my sister pinned upside down with the seatbelt twisted round her neck - by some miracle he had a penknife and managed to cut her free before she choked to death. Even now, 15 years on, she has flashbacks and suffers from depression and panic attacks - that's not even mentioning the months in hospital, and several operations and pins she had inserted in both shattered legs.

The lad responsible has never shown in court. He fled back to the family home in Pakistan.

Quote ="Sandra The Terrorist"Well I was thinking of this one. www.iam.org.uk/motorist/the-advanced-programme80 But if you know of something better, then depending on the cost I'd appreciate your advice.'" Advanced for me is simply developing your driving and then developing some more, and more, and more. RoSPA, IAM, DIAmond all do this type of work. The one i would recommend [url=http://www.roadar.org/drivers/test/grading.htmRoSPA[/url. As far as i am concerned its the best one.

Quote ="Sandra The Terrorist"Well I was thinking of this one. www.iam.org.uk/motorist/the-advanced-programme80 But if you know of something better, then depending on the cost I'd appreciate your advice.'" Advanced for me is simply developing your driving and then developing some more, and more, and more. RoSPA, IAM, DIAmond all do this type of work. The one i would recommend [url=http://www.roadar.org/drivers/test/grading.htmRoSPA[/url. As far as i am concerned its the best one.

Because if such a system were to be set up, you can guarantee that some 2@ would be getting kick-backs and others making a mint from it. Do some research on what happens when HMRC impound vehicles for smuggling baccy, the average sale price is mindblowing. Better to send the message out that nobody benefits.

EDIT: In fact don't bother, I've done the checking for you. According to a note in the [url=http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/aboutus/annual-reports-accounts/annual-report-10-11.pdf?view=Binary2010-2011 accounts of UKBA:[/url

[iThe agency also seized assets at the border. Tobacco and illegal substances are destroyed but [uthe agency did raise £184k (2009-10: £432k) from the sale of seized vehicles[/u with all proceeds going to HM Treasury.[/i

Now they admit to seizing an average of 5000 vehicles per year, you do the maths

I'm usually very liberal minded but the penalties handed out to repeat & serious traffic offenders is pathetic. Vehicle drivers, even where death is caused as a result, very rarely get a prison sentence.

So people would continually be forking out for a driving lesson, then another one, then another one.... where does it end? There's only one winner in that scenario.........

Do normal driving instructors prepare candidates for this sort of thing and how much is a lesson today?

Apart from the insurance industry (and as a consequence everyone who takes out insurance), the emergency services, the NHS and any individual who has suffered personal loss through a motor accident you mean?

I agree, There would be less accidents and less deaths as a consequence, which can only be a good thing, but it wont solve the problem, There will still be all the other idiots who cause accidents by selfishly and very knowingly drive dangerously. Regardless of how much training they've had. I know a wagon driver who had spent years driving all over Europe, had done practically every driving course there was, and he still drove like an absolute d1ck, attitudes need to be changed aswell as knowledge.

I don't know of any other industry that would allow someone to take charge of >£100k worth of truck, trailer and load and let them loose on the road, on the evidence of possession of an HGV licence. I know there are many professional hauliers out there who have their own in-house training and assessment systems and others who sub-contract such work. But equally there are many who don't and once the driver has left the depot, apart from mobile phone contact, they have absolutely no idea what he's up to until he's either involved in an incident, gets nicked or they review his tacho records.

Agree with your sentiment. I personally would never claim my driving to be any more than relatively decent, and I think the mentality of thinking you're a great driver can often lead to being a poor one, as it can contribute to overconfidence and a too casual attitude.

I would just say on this point that I think speed cameras are only a tiny part of the answer. There are so many problems on the road that cannot be picked up this way, but I agree that the police's hands are largely tied with a lot of it because they simply don't have the manpower. I find it frustrating that driving like an idiot most often goes unpunished so long as people know where the areas to slow down for are, and think that it is these drivers who are more dangerous than those creeping over the speed limit in front of a camera. I don't claim to know what the solution is, though.

I am quite old and have been driving since I was 21.
Last year, I got done for 38mph in a 30mph limit.
I was given the option of a fine and points or paying the same as the fine to do a one-day course (and no points), so I did the course.

I learned a lot from that course, the videos were a very salutary lesson and I drive differently now.
In 30 limits I used to (ahem) do about 35, now I usually do about 25.
Plus I think there's a valid case for slowing it down even more in some areas.

When you've seen the genuine film of the kid hitting the bonnet, being tossed over the roof of the car, hitting the boot and then the road ... and then laying still in the road ... even though the driver had slowed to 30 just beforehand ... well, basically, little kids don't think, we must think for them.