1 19 year old and a Freelander bite the dust...

Drove past the accident site this afternoon, a real mess, though difficult to understand what happened.

It occurred at a cross-roads with the main road running east-west and one of the cars came off the road and ended up in the 9-12 quadrant, demolished a dry-stone wall, ploughed through some trees and ended up in a pond. Bits of car everywhere along with bandage wrappers, water bottles and the like.

Flowers and tributes to the 19 year old, including one apparently from the girlfriend saying "we hurt each other"...

It was obviously a big accident, made worse by mud and leaves on the road. This is farming country after all...

RIP & thoughts with the families of all involved

I can remember when I was 19, I never give a thought for my own safety on the road or others.

Back then fast cars were in plentyful supply & our driving skills were not. It is such a shame when a young life is cut short over a mistake.

I hope the Freelander driver makes a full recovery , but somehow the bad memories may last forever.

Hi Mark, apparently it was the Freelander ended up with the back end in the water.

I too really feel for the young lad's family, and wish the Freelander driver a speedy and full recovery.

I think that driving training should most likely be completely turned on its head. There must be some way to try and teach young lads to be more careful on our roads, I know that when I was many years younger I was very irresponsible, and I think that applies for most young lads. Amongst my mates we have discussed that most of us started to drive most sensibly after we had had our first accident or very near miss.

I feel that having a test based around parking straight and doing manoeuvres correctly really hasn't ever got the message home about road safety, despite this clearly being much more important.

On a good news note, my colleague has been released from Hospital.

Probably the fact his car spun, went through a wall, trees etc took the energy out of that vehicle in stages, rather than the other car that was probably stopped in it tracks taking a huge amount of the energy in a single instance.

I'd agree something needs to be done about the training of drivers, most of us have probably been there.. just we were the ones that survived...

Its always good to have more Training..although be thankful in the UK its very comprehensive compared to the US. Ive done the test in 2 different states here and its rediculous. least the motorcycle test here is a lot better. I feel everyone drives with little margin here and has very little knowledge what to do in anything but ideal scenario.

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My sailing friend's wife has come over from Florida to live in the UK. She has to take the UK driving test and has failed 5 times so far............ every time it's either because she cannot cope with roundabouts or twice she was done for turning left on a red traffic light, she has given up now and says our system is silly!

I can beleive it.. The turning left at a red light is no excuse as here they are only allowed to turn right at some red lights.

It also depends where ppl are from, florida is big wide roads, flat and a grid system. Seattle where i live atm is a bit more like england and there are loads of roundabouts. Still people dont understand the merging concept.

I love driving when I come back to blighty, so dont take it gor granted its just a few people driving badly rather than most of 'em..

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Think we have all been there, past my driving test at 17 and thought I knew everything there was to know about driving. I love driving it's my one big passion in life hence the reason I now drive for a living. Got my PCV at the age of 19 at that time I was the yougest bus driver in Scotland (with stagecoach anyway) restricted to 31mile radius (UK domestic driving law) until 21 when I could then do longer distance (EU driving laws). The law now states I have to take 35hrs training every 5yrs to retain my PCV, it is non pass/fail, 28hrs class room based and 7hrs instructed driving. Failure to complete the CPC (Certificate of Professional Compatance) will result in my entitlement to carry passengers being lost, can still drive a bus but not with passengers.

The biggest risk group of drivers is 17 - 25 year olds, particularly males and most of them crash on right hand bends on country roads. Fact
Further driver training is the only way out of this situation and I strongly recommend all drivers consider the IAM advanced driving course. the IAM and the groups that do the training are all registerd charities.
I understand that peoples perception of the IAM is a bit old and anoraky and in some cases it can be but once you enrol you will find it is quite different. there is a big difference between being an anorak and being passionate and the people who run the groups are passionate about improving driving standards, saving lives (particularly young ones) and getting people to actually enjoy their new found skills.
Its not just young drivers that think that they are the best drivers, its all drivers, particularly men. I will guarantee that you will not find a man that will admit to being a poor driver. Why is it that we would freely admit to being crap at football compared to a professional but we all seem to think that we are better drivers than F1 drivers, police class 1 etc.
A last thought. In what other safety related activity do you have basic training and then over the next 50 years you recieve NO further training you only know what you know

Mods. I am a member of the IAM and Vice Chair of the Bolton group. We are a registered charity and recieve no payment or expenses for our voluntary services. http://www.boltoniam.org.uk if anybody in my region is interested. http://www.iam.org.uk for national information and other group contacts