Are Driving standards getting worse



I'd be interested to see if 17-22-year-olds today have more accidents than 17-22-year-olds 10, 20, 30 years ago

Difficult to tell really. There is a central database of road traffic incidents but it’s primarily (if not exclusively) only accidents involving an injury reported to the police - certainly the data I have licence to access is injury only.

Tracking that over time, whilst adjusting for miles driven is very hard. Interesting question and I’d love to know the answer but getting a true answer to that would be very difficult.
 
Would say it's more ignorance and self entitlement on the rise resulting in driving standards lowering. Applies to most things in this country not just roads.
 
You can get a 1 series for £299 deposit and £299 a month

It’s a decently powerful car

Youngings ive seen in them have a bog standard 116d. They start to be decent at 120d. 125d will be fast. Anything up from that is just a teen around a tree waiting to happen
 
Youngings ive seen in them have a bog standard 116d. They start to be decent at 120d. 125d will be fast. Anything up from that is just a teen around a tree waiting to happen

The current £299 1 series is the 118i M Sport, 0-60 in 8.5 seconds, that’s as fast as the 2019 MX-5.

I’d support a limit on the power you can have in the first three years of driving, hard to enforce but I’d do it by years you’ve been named on insurance or something rather than date of passing licence.
 
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Course not. For example im managing to type this out while doing 90mph on the A1 with no hands on the wheel. That takes real skill.
 
f***ing hate them. Alright mate, I was all set to plough into your boot at 80mph for a laugh but I'll hold off now I've seen your sign.

Same with twats who have 'dads taxi'. Hillarious chief, I've never heard that one before.

Bring back moonies, sticky on sun bleached garfields, and them fingers trapped in the boot latch.
They work a treat.
 
Seems to be a UK issue; driving in France and North America the guidance is much clearer on approach to roundabouts. There aren't many in the US/Canada but France has soooooo many roundabouts, and they don't seem to have the issues we do.

Do they have roundabouts in the US?

Drove for three weeks in California and the driving standard over there was appalling.
 
I find the drive to work is okay but the drive home is mental. People drive like lunatics to get home and all they are doing is probably sitting in front of the TV anyway.

Not enough drivers have good anticipation and awareness. I can see 5 cars back that is clear at the roundabout but the car at front stops to a hault. It causes traffic jams and makes everyone behind annoyed.

A lot of these issues have a solution. The government could ban anyone not going to work from the roads between certain rush hour times. Why are cars not limited to a maximum speed of 70mph?
 
Built up roundabouts are an issue as well. We have a few up here in Dundee where you can't see traffic coming from the opposite direction that's turning right, and when you pull out they appear at speed from your right. Some of the fuckers are practically on two wheels they're going that fast. Combined with idiots pulling out an inch behind traffic in order to get onto the roundabout it's an accident waiting to happen. If you have to brake you're going to get sideswiped.
Be up there in the morning delivering a new vw crafter to the harefield rd council depot. Nearly been arse ended a few times turning in to the depot.
 
Do they have roundabouts in the US?

Drove for three weeks in California and the driving standard over there was appalling.
Yeah they have them, but not many. Same in Canada, although certain cities seem to have learnt that roundabouts are great and put loads of them in (looking at you, Kelowna, BC). Overall the standard of driving in the United States is absolutely abysmal. That is borne out in the statistics! 38,000 deaths a year.
 
Saw a lad driving a fairly new Range Rover talking on a phone yesterday. Given the age of the car, be amazed if it didn't have Bluetooth fitted, so using phone can only be about arrogance, I'm so important etc etc

The amount of women who are obviously looking at a phone on their lap while driving. FFS
 
Saw a lad driving a fairly new Range Rover talking on a phone yesterday. Given the age of the car, be amazed if it didn't have Bluetooth fitted, so using phone can only be about arrogance, I'm so important etc etc

The amount of women who are obviously looking at a phone on their lap while driving. FFS

I’m sure it’s proper sexist and that but when waiting at traffic lights you’re almost guaranteed to see a young lass in a Fiat 500 texting
 
That’s more to do with advancements in car safety technology than driving standards. Almost entirely so, I’d say
You’d be wrong. The latest significant drop in fatalities aligns with the introduction of speed awareness courses...not something I thought would make a difference but seemingly it has.
 
If driving standards genuinely are falling, it flies in the face of the RTC statistics which show fatalities on the decrease consistently since 1966. Even just in the last decade, they've fallen massively: there were 39% fewer fatalities in 2017 compared with 2007.

Edit: source Road accidents and safety statistics

People have noticed there are less plod around in the last few years so are taking more chances.

The long decline in fatalities, hard won with safety development of cars as well as law enforcement, will level off and possibly even start to rise.

The f*cking tories again, especially that cretin who did f*ck all as PM for the last 3 years but also ruined law enforcement and the criminal justice system when in charge of the Home Office.

One dimensional government by a*seholes who know nothing about the real issues facing ordinary folks.
 
My driving standards are worse. At 46 I ain't got the reactions I had at 17 and I don't concentrate as much as I used to.

Drifting it around roundabouts at 80 seems stacks more difficult than it used to.
 
Much worse IMO. You get some clowns who don't signal but they don't signal when turning right at roundabouts. Er how the fuck can you give way if we think someone is going straight on?

Idiots trying to join motorways doing about 30 MPH on the slip road, incredibly dangerous.

People who can't judge a gap. Car doing 30 about 50 yards away and they just sit there.

People who can't read the road at all. For example idiots slowing right down and then giving way to nobody at roundabouts.

The list is endless :)

This, This, ffs This ^^^^^^ how hard is it to put your left indicator on when you want to exit a roundabout? For some drivers the concept is just too difficult.
 

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