Thursday 18 July 2019

Night Rider

I like this picture.
But if you've only recently passed your driving test, then you would only get to see it from the passenger seat.
 
That is if a proposed new law comes in to force whereby night driving is banned for new drivers.
 
The BBC cover the story here - it includes a video with young people saying a few things - a lot of which don't make sense.  And remember that it's not only young people who are newly-qualified drivers.  Who remembers Maureen?
Autocar also cover the story.  If you scroll past the crappy adverts there you will see that the commenters on the Autocar page are most definitely not in favour of this.  I get where they are coming from - it would need very careful rule-defining and be virtually impossible to police.
 
When does night-time begin?  Is it different at different times of the year?  Is it different in Scotland to Cornwall?  What happens when the clocks go forward or back?  What happens during a total eclipse of the sun?

There are so few police on our roads now thanks to 8 years of Tory austerity that we can't really expect those that are left to be looking in car windows every evening to see if the driver looks like he or she may not have held a full licence for very long.

And how, if they are not allowed to do it beforehand, does a driver having completed a probationary period cope when they are finally let out after dark?  Surely it's just pushing the problem a year or two down the line.

No, there is a far simpler solution - add a bit to the driving test to say that the driver has achieved a certain amount of night driving under the supervision of a qualified instructor.

Thank you and good night.

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