Top Gear Presenters Give Advice To Young Drivers

Sally Driver
November 2, 2012

Top Gear presenters James May and Richard Hammond have warned young drivers in a recent interview with "Rev" an online magazine aimed at new motorists.

Too many new young drivers take dangerous risks when out driving once they have passed their driving test. Statistics show that new young drivers are more likely to be involved in serious road traffic accidents resulting in serious injury or death than more experienced motorists. This is particularly true when they are out with a group of friends. The new young driver wants to show their newly accomplished driving skills to their friends, and may take dangerous risks to show how good a driver they think they are.

Richard Hammond warned: "You can get a little cocky when driving, especially when you do it for a day job as I do. Cars are super-powered machines - they need to be respected!"

"Kids don't need to impress others by driving fast - you've got your whole life to get that energy out, and there are much better ways of doing it. Choose your battles, because one of them shouldn't be with an accelerator! "

"I'm always telling kids not to believe they have control of the car. We all go through that phase of feeling as if the car is in control of them. Then, one day, you feel as if you've mastered it. Well that's the most dangerous time because, trust me, you haven't! "

"And a car can choose to go out of control very quickly and quite alarmingly. I think the driving test should contain some training in loss of control of the car."

James May advised new drivers to take special care of their cars: "I'm the 'custodian' of my vehicles, because that's what I am. As a motorist, you never really own a car; it's just in your care for a while. That's why we all owe it to ourselves and our metal friends to treat cars with the respect they deserve, because the chances are they'll belong to someone else further down the road!"

Driving schools and driving instructors are dedicated to improving road safety and wholeheartedly agree that that a car can be very dangerous. New drivers should not believe that they have the control of the car, they do not need to impress their friends by driving fast. New drivers have limited experience at controlling their driving at speed and if they drive too fast they can easily find that they cannot control the car and this leads to accidents. Our roads can be very dangerous places and as a leading driving school we are working with new young drivers to make them aware of just how dangerous our roads can be. By changing the attitude of new drivers today and new drivers of the future everyone can help to make our roads a safer place for all drivers. Too many new young drivers are killed or injured on our roads each year. We all need to deliver this message to all the young people around us, cars can be very dangerous machines if not handled carefully.

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