[NOS2Go4Me]

OAC_Sparky,Nov 18 2008, 04:00 AM Wrote:Special interest groups and lobbyists brought this all upon society.
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Edited for clarity.

While I think the new law goes too far for new drivers, something more needed to be done. As it stands right now, there is still too high of a reoccuring risk as far as new drivers and drinking goes.

It's sad, really. In the news, I can't count the number of times that young/new drivers and impaired charges are mentioned.

But, what REALLY needs to be addressed (as I sit here and wait for the R-bomb to be dropped) is the overabundance of new drivers (notice I didn't say young) in major urban Canadian centres that are being churned through at all licensing levels. It's in the news "down there" and elsewhere, repeatedly. Some of the worst ones are the ones that stick most clearly in my mind - minivans overloaded beyond seatbelt capacity, dumptrucks blowing lights, etc. How many accidents due to inclement weather each year in Toronto alone because those drivers have never seen snow?

When I was taught to drive, my dad took me into an empty, very large parking lot with his company (self-employed, mind you) E-150 van. Not only did I start practicing the very basics, I also learned skid control in the wet, spin/skid control in the snow, reversing with and without rear windows and how to manipulate a larger vehicle effectively - at 16.

What the hell are these new-to-Canada drivers (and indeed, most new drivers of all ages) being taught? If my elevated-cost yet perfect insurance record is any indication - NOTHING GOOD. A bare few good ones go through Young Drivers or one of the other nationally known schools. The rest skim the Driver's Handbook and scrape their way through the driver's exams. Or, better yet, they bribe their way through.

Those are the people that get me a shot in the arm from the g/f - both in NB and while travelling - because I'm constantly bitching about their lack of skill and my having to avoid them / make extra allowances because they can't control their Honda / Ford / GM-issue cruise missile effectively. Bitches.

/end rant