Is the Scottish driving age going up?

Question

I will be 17 in Feb next year and im wondering if the driving age will go up before then?

Answer 1

no

Answer 2

08 May 2008

TRANSPORT CORRESPONDENT

THE biggest shake-up of the driving test since it was introduced 73 years ago has been announced in a bid to reduce the high rate of crashes involving young drivers.

The changes will include courses on safe road use to be piloted in Scottish schools from this autumn for 14 to 16-year-olds.

The practical part of the driving test could involve two stages and be refocused from the ability to control a car to understanding road conditions and hazards.

Learners would receive training in night-time and bad weather driving, and may have to obtain a test-readiness certificate before taking their exam.

The written part of the test would also be updated, with the questions and answers no longer being published.

Ministers expect the changes will involve several months of training, so new drivers would no longer be able to sit their test just after their 17th birthday.

However, they rejected calls from road safety groups and MPs to raise the driving test age to 18 or impose restrictions on newly-qualified drivers, such as carrying passengers, night curfews and a lower drink-drive limit.

The proposals are out for consultation until 8 September, and the Department for Transport (DoT) said the pre-driving schools course was being piloted in Scotland because "Scottish educational authorities expressed a strong interest and offered to help with this element of our proposals". The DoT said pupils would be better prepared for learning to drive, and the course could lower insurance premiums.

The course, which will lead to a certificate, is being developed by the Driving Standards Agency and the Scottish Qualifications Agency (SQA). It will include information about the Highway Code, planning journeys, social attitudes, peer pressure, fatigue, road safety and eco-driving.

The SQA said enabling learners to take the written part of the driving test in schools was also being considered.

The course was welcomed by Stewart Stevenson, the transport minister, whose expert group on road safety is due to report this summer. He said the course would "give us the chance to shape the behaviour of future drivers before they even step into a vehicle."

Willie Wills, road safety manager for Scotland for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: " Scotland will have the chance to be at the leading edge of a development that has the potential to improve the lives and prospects of many people."

The Driving Instructors Association said the government's failure to introduce restrictions on new drivers was "a gross dereliction of duty" which would "almost certainly result in the deaths of more young people on our roads".