Should Participation In Motor Sport Be Compulsory?

[Odd]

IMO....before they get a licence!!

At least make them sit through a video that shows outcomes of travelling too close to car in front(my pet hate!) or speeding in built up areas

Motor Sport is Great....but not that relevant to driving safely on a public road

For many young blokes it may make them over confident with their skills

More Driver Training centres....with skid pans, roads with potholes and loose gravel....conditions found on real roads

[Okibi]

Basic First Aid and what to do in an accident should be a compulsory part of getting your licence.

[rascal]

For many young blokes it may make them over confident with their skills

This was the same crap head in the sand reason that some of the govt/motoring bodies put forward for not implementing driver training for young drivers.

Whilst I totally agree that behaviour training should also go hand in hand with the driver skill training, (as attitude plays a massive part) it is way better to have (a minority of overly confident) drivers who have the skills to get out of trouble , than an overwhelming majority with NO SKILLS!!

Ie, You don’t know how to pilot a 2ton death trap but we don’t want to teach you how cos some of you may use it incorrectly. Much better to have no-one know how, then we are all somehow safer??

[Snowmotion]

IMO... if we keep allow any licenced driver to teach Learners with minimal input from some form of standardized formal (quality) teachers.
If you imagine the people you drive with in traffic are teaching others the same bad habits, I can only imagine the driver standard getting worse and worse.
In Germany, if you want to teach someone to drive you have to do a test first. Just because you have a license to drive does not make you a good teacher.

[Odd]

For many young blokes it may make them over confident with their skills

This was the same crap head in the sand reason that some of the govt/motoring bodies put forward for not implementing driver training for young drivers.

Whilst I totally agree that behaviour training should also go hand in hand with the driver skill training, (as attitude plays a massive part) it is way better to have (a minority of overly confident) drivers who have the skills to get out of trouble , than an overwhelming majority with NO SKILLS!!

Ie, You don’t know how to pilot a 2ton death trap but we don’t want to teach you how cos some of you may use it incorrectly. Much better to have no-one know how, then we are all somehow safer??

I speak from experience....

I used to race Gokarts before I drove on the road...to win races you had to take risks....
It would be silly to take those risks on a public road.

I thought I was a pretty Good driver till I did a driver training course...
.
Driver training should teach skills....but more importantly teach the risks
You don't need high level of driving skill to be a Good driver on the road....you need a High level of awareness what others may do
Its about Risk avoidance....not successful risk taking

Someone doesn't understand what Good Driver training is....

[Mr Morlock]

the skills you need are being alert and anticipate what traffic and others may do - so many drivers just dont concentrate on what they do or assess traffic and situations. Going around a race track has buggerall to do with road safety. I have had 2 occasions recently when I braked hard enough to trigger the ABS- i.e. foot hard down - thats technology kicking in not ace driver #1 fresh off a racetrack. "Odd" is spot on.

[hks_kansei]

I think ideally we should have better public transport options throughout the state.
it should be a prerequisite for any new estate to be built that it also have decent public transport access (not like now where it seems they just put on two buses per day and call it done)


There are a lot of people who dont want to drive, dont care about driving, dont appreciate the risks, and dont care to do better at it.
They simply drive because they have to, because there's no other transport options available to them.

Currently far too many people are given licences because the testing is setting the bar so low, purely because they know that you pretty much need to have a licence in order to work/live unless you live right near the CBD.

Same with people who's reflexes/vision/etc are far below average due to age/disability/injury, currently many keep their licences because to remove a licence is to essentially remove their independence. If there were convenient transport options other than a car, perhaps people may be more willing to hand in licences when they notice their skill dropping.



Although, I realise for every driver who's skills are lacking and causing an accident, there are probably 10 that occurred because of selfishness from idiots speeding, cutting people off, running red lights, or just farking with their phones endlessly.

[93_Clubman]

the skills you need are being alert and anticipate what traffic and others may do

You also need car control.

[hks_kansei]

the skills you need are being alert and anticipate what traffic and others may do

You also need car control.

True, but when most accidents are nose/tail or merging etc, it's not lack of vehicle control that's caused it, it's lack of attention.


A person with mediocre vehicle control skills, who's paying attention, is probably a lot safer on the road than a professional driver who's not paying attention.

(of course, there's a lower limit of car control. But having every driver trained to recover a car from every situation will likely not reduce the death rate by much, especially not for the immense cost of training)

While I can't find if the stats are conveniently organised anywhere, I would wager that the number of accidents caused by a driver's lack of driving skill are but a small number, compared to the number caused by fatigue, alcohol, or distraction.

[Red_Bullet]

Distraction is the big one, peoples lives are so busy that they don't have the mental free time to dedicate to the onerous task of driving. Too much going on. KPI's to be met, sales targets to be reached, shopping, pick the kids up, pay the mortgage etc etc.

Autonomous vehicles are coming and will do a better job of driving than distracted human brains.

[Okibi]

I think the most important driving skill is being predictable.

So often accidents are caused by people indicating as they change lanes, braking suddenly , changing lanes mid intersection or while they should be merging with another lane etc.

[Red_Bullet]

Predictability is affected by people driving by GPS who have no idea where they are going and only find out which way to go at the last second, google maps does this and it does it often.

[93_Clubman]

the skills you need are being alert and anticipate what traffic and others may do

You also need car control.

True, but when most accidents are nose/tail or merging etc, it's not lack of vehicle control that's caused it, it's lack of attention.

A person with mediocre vehicle control skills, who's paying attention, is probably a lot safer on the road than a professional driver who's not paying attention.

(of course, there's a lower limit of car control. But having every driver trained to recover a car from every situation will likely not reduce the death rate by much, especially not for the immense cost of training)

While I can't find if the stats are conveniently organised anywhere, I would wager that the number of accidents caused by a driver's lack of driving skill are but a small number, compared to the number caused by fatigue, alcohol, or distraction.

Car control is more than just trying to correct a vehicle, it's also about understanding hazards & avoiding them. Someone who doesn't pay attention/is distracted, is fatigued, or drug or alcohol affected when driving isn't being a professional driver. Driving skill is the whole package not just car control. Not advocating advanced driving for all, but better holistic defensive driving would help, & it's not just about the death toll, there are potentially life long medical & many other costs involved with injuries which offsets the cost of more training. And it could possibly be done within the current system if it was improved, so not advocating an additional standalone course. But realistically in this country it would probably be political suicide. Btw, haven't checked your first & last para claims in terms of most common accidents or causes.