Raising the driving age to 18.

If they raised the age of driving by a year every time this rumour surfaced I'd be too young to drive. In the late nineties a pressure group suggested that the legal driving age should be 21, and there have been rumours ever since.

The curious thing is that the most recent rumours have been about allowing people to drive under supervision aged 16 rather than raising the age!

The fact is, age is not a huge influence until you get past age 25. According to one of the leading scientists who researches these things we can't assess risk properly until then. Unfortunately she throws this bit of information in on a promotional film for the driving school she works for - and I don't think they'll be limiting their potential customers to over 25's! (Especially not when their basic idea is to sell their driving course to mummy and daddy!)

So this is another of those fantastic rumour mill things which come around every now and again.

Have a look around the roads and you'll find 17 year olds whose judgement is fantastic, some 40 year olds who have no awareness of what is going on around them, and some 80 year olds who can overtake sunday drivers perfectly.

Age is not an issue, attitude and inexperience is what kills young drivers, not their lack of birthdays.

THE FACTUAL BIT:
Currently in the UK, you can take your theory test on your 17th birthday, and provided you pass, you can take your test as soon after this as you can get a booking.
If you are in reciept of higher rate disability living allowance, you can do all this on your 16th birthday.