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-   -   Minimum driving age: Is 18 too long a wait? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/5159-minimum-driving-age-18-too-long-wait-9.html)

I voted for 16. But would also like to add conditions and clauses to the age limit. The licenses for 16 year olds should be conditional - up till age 21. Any serious offense, and license should be suspended for 1 year and repeat offense should mean cancellation. Also small offenses should result in supervised driving requirement or something of that sort. There are some of these rules in the US and probably other western countries. India could take a leaf out of it. I think at age 21, the eventual license should come with some sort of additional tests and classes.

I learnt driving two wheeler(motorbike) and four wheeler when i was 12 and 13 respectively. But i learnt it in my family's farm. I got my DL last january. I applied for DL immediately when i turned 18. I used to curse the law for that rule before. But now, i don't. I am 19 now and have driven car for more than 30,000km(mostly on the highway as i also work) and bike for around 10000km since i got my DL.

IMO, it isn't the minimum age that matters. Its the mental maturity to drive. I know people who are 25 and above and have a DL for car and still do not know how to drive.

The driving tests at the RTO must be stricter and more challenging.
I was in for a shocking surprise when i went for my DL test. I was just asked to drive for a hundred feet in a deserted residential road and take a U-turn and come back! The inspector was not with me either! He was just standing near the starting point and watching. This test is definitely not enough to determine if the driver is actually eligible for a DL.

Finally IMO, they should retain the minimum age as 18 but make the driving license tests tougher and more challenging.

+1. Exactly what I wanted to post in this thread. DL tests must be made tougher and enforced as well.

18 is the legal age for driving in India. Yes kids will become more mature at this age and I have voted for this. However it is noteworthy that we have another thread (7 Habits of highly effective idiots on Indian roads). So in my opinion age is not a factor for discipline in driving, maturity is. Its more about how well you were taught and how much respect you give to your life and to others on the road.

If I remember correctly, in the US - they offer "restricted licenses" where kids between 16-18 can only drive between home and high school. In India, I don't think our authorities will ever implement such a law if it existed. 18 is a reasonable age - but it completely depends on the kid. Enough 16 year old kids will drive responsibly and enough 40 year old men will drink and drive and run over slum dwellers. So it is a bit unfair to draw a line in the sand but 18 sounds like a nice compromise.

I would not support a reduction. If I remember correctly then the UK went from 17 to 18 due to EU requirements. I think we need to crack down on enforcement, two wrongs will never make a right.

I voted for 16.

Being able to drive is a basic necessity in today's times. Some have suggested in this thread that one should drive only if you have interest in driving and not for the sake of it. Out on the roads today, how many do you think are really 'interested' in driving? We on this forum are passionate about cars and driving in general, but what about the majority of folks out on the road. They are not driving for the fun of it, but because they need to.

In the years gone by, say the 80's and 90's being able to own one car in the family was a big deal. So a family that owned a car was deemed to be a rich family. And if the family could afford to own a car for their 18 year old 'kid', was a super rich family. So having the min driving age set at 18 really did not matter much as it made a difference to a very miniscule part of the country's population. But today that is not the case. A car has become a very basic need, esp in the urban scenario. It is not very difficult for a family to get a used Alto or a Santro for their college going son/ daughter. Our roads are so dangerous that there are many parents I know who'd rather have their college going kids drive a small car rather than a two wheeler for safety reasons.

THe bad driving that we see on our roads today has to do with the poor driving culture that's set in. Poor enforcement, loop holes in license issuing processes, no of fear of punishment, low fines and general lack of serious repercussions that could happen when things go wrong on the road are the main reasons for the chaos on our roads.

The only way to improve things is better education. I'd say introduce a subject on traffic rules, road manners and etiquette at the high school level. A majority of these kids is going to take the wheel at some stage in their life. At this age the kids are not yet on the road and are impressionable. Many of us have learnt driving from our fathers. We were fortunate to have someone teaching us what is right and what is wrong. I have seen many elders who teach wrong things to youngsters like, jumping signals in the wee hours of the morning, or jumping on the wrong side of the road to jump a queue saying 'everybody does it, so its ok'. If you educate kids at school they may even correct these elders.

I'd say rather than having a min age of 18 and a weak license issuing process, make it 16 and have stringent tests.

I am afraid given the current status you will end up with a younger (and less mature) driver with the old laissez faire scenario. I was thinking of the French system, where CDE is a must, and the license is primarily granted by the Driving School, but refrained.

LOL @ this thread.
Are you sure that a person who is underage cannot obtain driving license in India?
Are you also sure that people driving without license indeed get caught and tagged as offender with all the legally stipulated fines and punishments?

We have to first ensure that it is indeed people above 18 who get license.
And they are the only ones driving on the roads.

Till then this thread does not make any sense, since I can see a lot of 14 years old too on the road.

18 is the right age. Not only mental make-up and sense of responsibility, I read somewhere the growth of the eyes and depth perception are not complete till that age.

Also saw someone posting about 16 year olds driving sensibly while 40 year olds don't! Well, many 40 year olds don't vote sensibly (or vote at all) too! So why not give voting rights to 15 year olds, while we are at it!

I think 18 is perhaps the earliest age when one should be allowed to drive. Of course, there still are cases when 18 year olds drive irresponsibly when their parents don't guide them. I find that people begin to drive less irrationally after they turn about 28, but it is most likely because of years of driving and the realization that no matter how hard they try, all that they can accomplish is reach about 5 minutes earlier by rushing through traffic. Then again, I see many drivers in their 30s who have not been driving for very long and experience road rage.

In India, with the kind of creatures one meets on the road, maybe the age of consent to drive should be upped to 27 or something. And the tests made far more rigorous and enforced as well.
Utopia I guess...

My vote would go to 21.
When I look back to my bike drivinhttp://www.autos.com/driving-and-safety/car-crash-statistics-based-on-age-and-locationg in my teenage years (18+); I am surprised that I came out unscathed. Teens usually have a higher rush of adrenaline and do not think much about consequences.

Some statistics from US regarding age-wise distribution of road accidents:
Car Crash Statistics Based on Age

• Teens = Highest Risk Group: For every mile driven, teens between the ages of 16 and 19 are four times as likely to be involved in a car crash

Source: http://www.autos.com/driving-and-saf...e-and-location

We should have a stricter learner's licence .the individual must drive a predefined no. of kilometres under supervision or pass stricter tests. The problem is not the age ,but the trial and error system of learning how to drive.Its mostly cause by the time a person is 18 years there is a job/career/professional studies to worry about.

Not much time to spare for professional driver training.

At 16 the kids will be enthusiastic to learn the ins and outs of driving rules and can spare the time. They also will have more respect for instru
ctors.


At 16 years of age kids need to drive all over for tution/extra curriculars/ sports.

It would be a good way to spend the summer instead of getting ex cited with video games cause they can't touch real cars or bikes :)

Voted for 21. Reasons being:
- See too many rash driven two wheelers with college students almost in every vicinity of college. Neither do they know what potential crash can cause to themselves or to others.
- When license age limit is a joke when it is 18, what would be the sanctity if it is reduced further!
- Hope that a bit of time to get used to public transport would develop some "used-to" ness and potentially even if 10% choose to bear with public transport in later times, good enough!