My son has crashed his car.

achtunglady

If you lot think that 17 is too young to drive a car sensibly,then what are you going to make of the governments idea to lower the age you can drive a hgv down from 21 to 18??? This is coming into effect in 2009, the insurance companies must be rubbing their hands together with glee at the thought of providing high premiums for their insurance!

impy78

The only qualifying skill for HGV drivers is psychosis.:rotfl:

achtunglady

Well without hgv drivers how will your food get to the shops and the furniture you use??? Anyway,they are strongly governed by rules, by law they have to take a break after driving 4.5 hours, and their speed is governed by a limiter to 56 mph plus everything they do driving wise is recorded on a tachograph. They have to have a compulsary rest period of 11 hours before driving after a maximum of 15, How many times have cardrivers driven for more than 4.5 hours and with less rest time???

tomstickland

I've done Bristol - Fort William with one 5 minute break a couple of times. You have to concentrate on the job in hand.

Horasio

achtunglady wrote:

If you lot think that 17 is too young to drive a car sensibly,then what are you going to make of the governments idea to lower the age you can drive a hgv down from 21 to 18??? This is coming into effect in 2009, the insurance companies must be rubbing their hands together with glee at the thought of providing high premiums for their insurance!

All I can say is :eek:

Boy racer jugernauts

Horasio

tomstickland wrote:

What happens when you get a group of males together then they think "hey no women to tell us off, let's have fun" and about 70% of men think anything involving speed, corners, sliding around is fun. Think skateboards, mountain bikes, motorbikes, skiing. Hell, I even enjoy trying to get my shopping trolley round the corners sideways in the supermarket, the aim being to clear the corrner with minimal effort and just missing the shelving.

I was telling my mother about mountain biking and going on about the fun of jumps and clearing air etc and she looked at me and said "are you 13 or 33?".
Driving for entertainment doesn't mean driving everywhere at stupid speeds, it means enjoying the driving. Sure, following a procession at 40mph down coutry roads is on a par with watching paint dry, and so is most regular hours driving in the UK.

Thank you for your honest answer. I think some older guys get a bit ticked off with young racers too, maybe a bit of envy or realises how dumb it can be.

I'm no great speeder, can't do it much these days with so many cars but yes, torture is being behind a 45er for miles where you can't overtake - why don't slow people pull over every so often?:mad:

I really envy my parents when they drove in the early 70s on the new motorways in their 350SL Mercedes and Audi, they could drive at the car's max speed, no cameras and you very rarely saw speed cops! They were in their 40s!!!

I think I got about 3 years before the roads got bad with tailgaters and other idiots spoiling the driving. I don't object to fast speed but do hate dangerous driving at any speed.

Horasio

Bamber19 wrote:

this seems to be changing, there are a lot more young girls now who are into modified cars and driving faster than they should. I'm also seeing a worrying amount of females who pack their cars full of trinkets and cover the parcel shelf in stuffed toys, which must surely make it very hard to see out the back window. I think the current system where all young drivers are paying for the mistakes of other young drivers is wrong though, i can't remember who it was (they don;t do it anymore anyway) but there as an insurance company who at one point offered you half your policy cost back as a young driver if you made no claims in the first year, this seemed quite fair but obviously didn't work out financially as as i said the offer no longer exists.

Ah now I know what to ask Santa for

Pink fluffy dice
Pink fluffy steering wheel cover
A nodding Churchill Dog
and of course the bodywork must be fushia pink and have pink interiors:D

Horasio

tomstickland wrote:

I've done Bristol - Fort William with one 5 minute break a couple of times. You have to concentrate on the job in hand.

You ought to try Edinburgh to Bournemouth (and back again a couple of days later!)

After our driving holidays in the USA, that was an average day's drive for us!

nemo183

Well, as many have already said, he'll have to pay all the premiums. In the event of total loss, the insurance stops if it has to be paid out, and you have to re-insure.

You and he have my sympathy for going through such an unfortunate event. Despite what others may have posted, much of the time it's a matter of bad luck - most of the time you'd get away with it, but sometimes you don't.

Although it's hard to believe, there are some really positive things to take from this. Number one - nobody hurt or injured. Number two - your son will now believe that he is not actually invincible - unlike 90% of young men of his age.

This strikes a chord with me, as 3 months after passing my test, a girl of 19 ran out between two parked cars, following a row with her boyfriend. I was doing around 25mph in a mini, and wasn't even able to slow down. She was killed instantly. Was there anything I could have done? No.

The above might also serve as a warning to anyone who still drinks and drives. Drunk or sober, the end result would have been the same. Had I been over the limit, I'd have gone to jail.

Sorry to pitch in with such a depressing story.

frosty

Thanks everyone,I always thought my son was very sensible and would not be a boy racer,but when he is with his friends he changes into a different person.I find the lack of control you have when they turn 18 very difficult to handle,they are classed as an adult and while alot are mature for their age alot are not.He is very upset about what has happened and has said he has learnt his lesson,this will cost him a lot of money (about £3,500)and he still wont have a car to drive.We are going to try and enjoy christmas and worry about the court when we have a date.
nemo183,I really feel for you:grouphug: