Young Male Drivers

We've all been one. Well, half of us have. Well, the half of us who're male and learnt to drive before we were 21 were anyway.

Hell, you get the idea.

Showing off, pushing ourselves and our cars - I know I did it, but did I do anything completely stupid? I'm not sure if I'm honest - I know I made a few bloody silly mistakes though. I was never really the type to show off much, but not engaging the brain before engaging the gear? Yep, that was me.

After watching ITV1's program "Crash Scene Investigators" tonight I distinctly had the feeling that I'm glad to be here several years later.

We all know the stats - the number one killer of young women is the men who drive them around.

If there's a better argument for feminism I'm not sure I've heard it yet.

The only way to do anything when attitude is the main cause - make them want to be better drivers.

Until we can make driving well fashionable we will have trouble. Advanced driving is boring - it's a load of old duffers telling us we need to be better before we can speed. It needs to be repackaged, rebranded, and have a qualification that people understand - NOT 5 DIFFERENT ONES.

Lets have 1 standard that we can all aim for - a standard above the L-test that all drivers should have to attain before they can use their driving at work. Maybe we should all have to display our standard when driving - L-plates, FLH, Advanced, etc. Then people could decide whether they want to get into a car with someone who hasn't got the advanced licence yet.

Maybe we should have to display our insurance too - and make this obvious - so that those girls can see if they're getting in a car with someone who isn't insured.

Then with some serious education, lets get people thinking that risk taking in a car is really pretty pathetic (small dick syndrome - I reckon someone should do scientific studies - I reckon we could prove this one!), and that there's an easy solution - get out of the car driven by the pratt.

One final suggestion - make advanced tests of all types accessible. Let people get on a skid pan and get scored on it. Get more people to take up track days - settle the "who's fastest" thing once and for all. Score people on their control skills, their observational skills. Begin a "Britain's best driver" contest. Have a national league table that people can log into and see how well they're doing. See the people who take training rise to the top, and the loons fall to the bottom.

Reward the ones who win.

Prove who is the best - accurately.

Make the ones who feel they're better than they are face the truth.