Should novice drivers carry P plates?
by Flash Wilson, January 13th 2004Click here to hear Flash read this article.
The UK Government thinks that forcing newly qualified drivers to display
P plates is a good idea. On
its website, it states "We believe that using P-plates would have a salutary effect on new drivers to
remind them and other road users that although they have passed the driving test, they are still novices."
My Approved Driving Instructor agrees that in due course we will all be required to carry P plates.
I think this is a bad idea.
We already have a probation period in which if we get six points we are disqualified and have to
retake theory and practical tests to regain the license. This would be enough of a deterrent to
me to drive carefully, not speeding and not taking risks.
At online forums, learner drivers compare notes. All of us agreed that we see terrible
examples of driving around L plated cars. For example while I was stopped at red traffic lights,
a BMW driver mounted the pavement and drove along it to pass me! More often drivers will undertake,
or overtake where there is little room to do so. You have to have your wits about you! Admittedly being stuck behind a
very new learner can be frustrating, and it's easy to forget that we all learnt at some time. Yet no
matter how well the car is driven, there seems to be a mentality among other drivers that we must be
overtaken as soon as possible, even if they have to take a risk to do so. I belive that wearing P
plates would also attract this kind of driving "to get past the probationer at any cost", and
therefore plunge the novice driver into dangerous situations when they are the least able to
handle it and the safety net of an experienced driver supervising has been taken away. The use of
P plates is ostensively about safety, and I don't see how it could help in this way.
In other countries P drivers can be restricted in speed, for example in Australia they mustn't
exceed 100kph, or 62mph. I have heard that in other countries, the limit is 45mph.
This is slower than I have driven down the A3 in my L plates.
(I had to stop when one of my magnetic L plates flew off as I approached 70mph!)
I don't believe a speed restriction would work in the UK.
Firstly, my car would be turned into - as Murray Walker calls slow drivers - a "mobile chicane".
The left lane of motorways would now crawl at 45mph or whatever the speed restriction was, which would
mean that there was more of a discrepancy between the speeds of different lanes while the fast
lane continued to flow at 85mph or above (yes, I know that's illegal but it seems to be how people
behave on a clear road) and so more acceleration and deceleration would be needed when moving
from one lane to another, to fit in with the flow of traffic. I can imagine this might add to
an increase in accidents. Secondly, you would be dicing with lorries who are limited to 60mph and the
two leftmost lanes, but would have to keep pulling out into the middle to pass the P plate holder
going at 45mph, thus congesting the traffic more - or if limited to 62mph, it would take a long
time for the novice to pass the lorry, with only 2mph between them. And I don't think I'd like
to be driving in the "slow" lane, trapped between lorries. It would get claustrophobic, and if
there was an accident I, in the smaller vehicle, would be likely to come off worst. Finally if
I was limited in my speed it would take ages to get anywhere!
In addition to this, drivers need to learn to handle speed - exactly the reason why I have
driven at 70mph down the A3, while I was under supervision. If novice drivers were restricted,
they would have to learn to handle the increase in speed a few years after they pass their test
and again at a time when there is no safetynet of an accompanying experienced driver. Use of
a speed restriction would be delaying the time when people learn to handle the speed; you
cannot presume that they will have been driving regularly and turned into a very good driver
by the time the P plates come off! I don't see any benefit here. So if mandatory P plates are
introduced, I hope there is no accompanying speed restriction.
There are a couple of other issues associated with the mandatory display of P plates. Firstly,
the stigma. It's bad enough being a learner driver, but once you've passed the test you can
go out and get a job which requires a driving license, even if driving is only a minor part
of the role. It's unlikely that companies would like to display P plates on company vehicles,
which might cause discrimination against novice drivers and make it harder for them to get a
job in certain roles.
Finally, how would P plate use be enforced? The government has already said that they don't
think novice drivers should have a special code on their license for the probationary period
as this causes extra overheads as well as expense to the driver when they need to renew
their license after probation. Nor do they believe there would be any benefit in requiring
a second driving test at the end of probation - a driver should have acquired and demonstrated
appropriate skills before being allowed on the road unsupervised, so the existing test must
be a fair test of driving skill - an extra test would bring no benefit.
All this suggests to me that novice drivers would be required to display P plates for
sometime after gaining their license, but people failing to do so are unlikely to be
caught unless they have been stopped for some other offence. If there is a speed restriction
as well, novice drivers might even be less likely to display P plates as it marks them out
as someone who shouldn't go fast, when chances are they will want to!
In my opinion there are far better ways to spend money addressing "safety" issues on the
roads. How about the regular retesting of OAP drivers? Even if only eyesight is tested
I think it would be a bonus; I used to know someone who drove (very slowly and carefully)
into her nineties, and someone else who drove after an illness and was only forced by
her doctor to stop driving after she caused an accident.
In summary, although it's true that driver inexperience causes many accidents, branding
recently qualified drivers with P plates will not prevent this - rather, it might throw
novice drivers into difficult situations as people try to pass them at all cost, or
if they are restricted in speed and forced to fit between lorries on motorways. Plus
there seems to be no easy way to enforce their use. Let's end the talk of mandatory
display of P plates and encourage focus on the real road safety issues in order to
make the UK's roads safer.
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