[simran]

Originally Posted by aadix

i voted for 16

cars these days are a necessaity rather than a luxury.

parents view car as a safer option for their siblings esp the fairer kind

i could give countless examples but i guess you guys got the point.

tell me one thing would you give your daughter a 30 k maruti 800 or a kinectic honda (if budget was a problem?)

i for one would give my daughter or sis a car,much safer than a 2 wheeler anyday.


accha all those who voted for 18, please tell me the age at which you started driving or learning.

i am dead sure gto, rtech and others must have learnt way earlier than 18, am i right guys?

Point taken, but these are specific cases, and exceptional circumstances. I think the topic is more to do with what the general rule or law should be. Law cannot be dictated by exceptions. Why US/Canada have these flexible laws is to make room for exceptions I think.

I learnt the car after I was 20, and that too on my dad's Premier Padmini.

Its Ok to get emotional since the issue bothers you (it bothered me when I was 16), but you have to consider the whole gamut of things. tomorrow you might see kids driving lorries and tempos and autos if the law is relaxed. Would you want that?

[islero]

I am 17, and I think people of my age, or maybe even a year below my age, are very much qualified to drive cars.

But I still think that until youre 18, you shouldnt be allowed to drive outside city limits.

Maybe, if they do reduce the age, they can place checking booths at the edges of the cities to check the licences of drivers going into highways and stop poeple under 18 and having a licence from going in.

Highway driving is very diiferent as we all know, and requires a lot of experience to handle.

[simran]

Originally Posted by islero

I am 17, and I think people of my age, or maybe even a year below my age, are very much qualified to drive cars.

But I still think that until youre 18, you shouldnt be allowed to drive outside city limits.

Maybe, if they do reduce the age, they can place checking booths at the edges of the cities to check the licences of drivers going into highways and stop poeple under 18 and having a licence from going in.

Highway driving is very diiferent as we all know, and requires a lot of experience to handle.

operationally, that is not possible. It is impractical to monitor who goes in a city and who goes out of a city.

And no offence meant, but whether you are 'qualified' or not depends on what the law says in this matter. In this case, law will also consider your age.

All in all, we should respect the law, esp on the road since it is fomulated after a lot of consideration and it is to make the roads a safe place.

[Mpower]

Interesting topic. I started at 14 and used to drive like a dick till I was 21 or so. So definetly, there needs to
be a probationary period.

For example in the UK, you can start driving a bike at 15 but the bikes are restricted to like 16 bhp or something like that.

In the US, your insurance goes down if you get good grades in school/college.

These are some ways to weed out the freaks.

There is no doubt that 16-20 year olds have car control. In fact they have much better car-control and reflexes than some middle aged women who learn to drive when they are 35+ that we see meandering on the roads. The problem is the lack of maturity and rash driving.

[F50]

Originally Posted by lamborghini

Hey guys,
The RTO should make the tests tougher and make a special test track in all cities and big villages where a learner is able to face all sorts of challenges (like a fake animal popping up and a wet section) and is scored on how he faces.

What about cost incured for all this? I think this is a bit futuristic thought.
They are not able to take tests properly what will they do here.
I have seen tests like
1. Put in 1st, 2nd.... okay you are passed and car was never turned on!!!
2. As soon as the car starts moving in 1st gear ... ok ok stop thats it.


And as far as the age goes it should be 18. Kids tend to get carried away with speed.
Remember, the accident at Worli Sea Face where a 15 yr. old was driving Ikon and met with and accident, the car was in to two parts.

[aah78]

Originally Posted by lamborghini

I am an underage driver but i still drive responsibly and only on small roads.
Not any of the major roads.

thats not something to be proud of.
its shameful to know that your guardians allow you to drive on public roads at all.
a safe driver, you may be but its still against the law.

ads

ps. do not take this personally. read kooldude's post (in the Buckle-Up section). imagine the repurcussions, were you to get into trouble.

[freakr]

as a matter of fact ,i started driving when i was in my 9th grade..i used to just do small stuff like take car out of garage or put it in..slowly i started going on smaller and less traffic roads with someone who's experienced..beside me..i took the car all by myself after i have got my license.

[vandan]

i voted for 16,cause i am 16 and desperate to drive!...it took me 4 months to convince my mom (and a couple of hunger strikes to)...i have promised her i will only learn and not go alone out with the car...so i think there is nothing wrong,i could just help my mom buy stuff and be her driver and get good practice!

[aadix]

the tests in hyderabad are very strict
we have a seperate driving track 20 kms from hyd, having all kinds of conditions.

no bribes work, thats one reason i dont have my permenant license yest, tooo lazy to take the test,very rarely people pass in the first test.

and oh simran, i learnt to drive a dcm when i was in 10th or something,infact gave a test report abt it too.

i dont mean that 16 year olds should drive lorries and all, 21 is the minimum age for that and i believe it should be kept at that.

as far as i see ,cars have become commom for kids, since u get maruti's from 30k onwards.

[normally_crazy]

i voted for 21 ......but i know thats not going to be possible in this country....so i think the age limit will remain 18 for now...

but i have a suggestion ...when a person gets a license at 18 it should like a learners license ( expiry in 6 months ) thus the person will have to take the test ( if they exist) 6 times till he reaches 21 .

dont know how the overburdened RTO will manage this but its worth a thought!

[Deeps]

I voted for 17. I am 17 right now and drive which techinically makes me an underage driver. But i don't drive alone even though i have a few years of experience. I have enough confidence in my driving abilities to claim that i drive better than 80% of drivers on the road. Believe it or not, i have only had a very minor coming together with a wall while parking a car in the 3 years or so that i have been driving.

"But you are not mature enough". I agree that maturity comes with age. I drive a lot more sensibly now than i did a year ago. And by turning 18 you don't mature oevrnight. As someone already pointed out that even people in their 30s meander all over the road and lack basic control over the car. So who is more dangerous on the road...a 17 year old like me or the 30 year old??

I think what amitoj has suggested is as ideal as it gets. But its true that india lacks the capabilities to enforce any such laws. But due to the same reasoning, it hardly makes a difference if the miinimum age is raised. I think 17 is a fine limit but the tests should be made much tougher. Whether these tests are carried out properly is another matter. In US, one can start learning at the age of 15. Is that because the americans mature faster than us? Hell NO!!

[drifter]

i voted for 21 years. 18 years is too low in my opinion...hell i remember when i was 18...i thought i was indestructable...was lucky to have survived with 1 collision and many near misses. Now i drive much more safer...stick to the rules and be defensive.

But if 21 years was to become the minimum age for driving...then i wouldnt be able to drive for about 2 more months.

Drifter

[RJK]

Theoretically speaking, its good to have limit of 21yrs but practically not possible. Realistically, the age is more like 15-16yrs in this country. RTO provides value added services to its citizens like home delivery of license w/o any test. They really believe in customer care...hahahaha.

Jokes apart, I'd learned to drive when i was 12 but I didn't drive outside on the roads till I was 18. My parents wouldn't let me..however I'd be lying if I said that I didn't drive for those 6 yrs. I did drive but it was limited to reversing the car & parking it..actually practised reversing with the wing mirrors a lot then. Till date, inspite of having two cars at home, I'm still not allowed to take the car as & when I like even though the Honda is not driven by anyone else but me. I still have to take permission or inform the parents before I can take the car & if they don't agree, then well I've to take a hike

Islero,
Your profile doesn't say that your 17yrs old..lol

[gamerno1]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

i think it would be a very good idea to reduce the minimum age to 16 years.having a license will make definitely a driver behave more responsibly .

very interesting satya. i still say 18 is perfect.
16 a bit amateur.
21?? this will lead to more under-age driving since the wait will be longer

[revtech]

yeah if ever it were raised to 21 there would be more incidents of underaged drivers because no one is really going to wait that long.i just have two months left and im counting days just cant wait and my parents dont let me drive and i respect that.

maturity does come with age but can anyone tell me the differnce in maturity of a boy/girl whos 17 years and 11 months old and an 18 year old.nothing !! how can some one possibly say he was more mature than he was last month.i think at 16 a learners liscence should be issued which enables that person to drive only in city limits with a permanent liscence holder and a proper liscence to be issued on turning 18.

every ones talking about the ford ikon incident. yes it was really sad but has any one thought about the recent yellow skoda rs incident.the guy who was driving was well over 18 and wasnt UNDERAGED was he?? the only reason he and the other people in the car were saved was because of the build quality of skoda and im sure youll will agree with me on this.so he was NOT underaged but still ...so how can you possibly say that being less than 18 is not being mature and responsible.

Rev