According to Brake, the road safety charity, one in five drivers crash within a year of passing their test. They also say that over 1,500 young drivers are seriously injured, or worse, on UK roads every year. So what can be done about it" Well it?s difficult to argue that the driving test isn?t fit for purpose, since it?s more involved now than it?s ever been. And cars themselves tend to be a lot safer, these days. So really, one of the only things to tackle is the drivers themselves. We all know that motorcyclists make the best car drivers, so perhaps there?d be some positive results if new drivers were made to spend some time riding a moped before they could take their test?

Motorcyclists are great drivers

First of all, let me explain briefly why I think motorcyclists make excellent drivers. There?s a more in depth analysis here, if you’re interested. But this is it in a nutshell; spending time as a genuinely vulnerable road user rapidly develops a skillset that all drivers ought to have. Instinctive hazard perception, impeccable spatial awareness and being able to simultaneously focus on your frontal and peripheral vision is what keeps you alive on a motorbike; it?s literally life and death. And when something?s as important as ?life and death?, even the stupidest people can learn it fairly fast.
Blow off some steam

I can remember when I was a teenager and all my mates started getting cars. Quite a few of them crashed within a month or ...