Its the simplest thing to do and yet the most common rule to break - you do not need to drive five yards from the back of the car in front, it really isn’t necessary and it won’t get you home any quicker.

And yet what did I find when she passed her test and I sat alongside her afterwards ? She did what all young people do and she drove right up to the car in front and stayed there - I actually told her to stop and took the keys off her once because I considered her driving to be so dangerous, not fast, just impossible to stop in time if the car in front had to stop quickly.

Her reaction to all of this is the standard one for all people of her age “my reactions are quicker than yours”, she, like all youth, believes herself to be invincible and the poor kids who died in the accident that you mentioned probably thought the same too.

When I was her age I lost two friends in two separate accidents, at that time I was travelling 30,000 miles a year in my job - it slowed me down, it made me check my car regularly, it made me give myself plenty of room on the road - its very simple but you cannot explain it to someone of youthful years, they unfortunately have to learn it.

That is some difference!

Pedestrians & cyclists are often forgotten or ignored by drivers. The other thing I notice on rural roads is how few drivers slow down when they see a rider on horseback….. it only takes a few seconds.

When you were a nipper (that was yesterday, right?) the roads were perhaps not so crowded or the cars so powerful.

In 2008, we had 894 car fatalities. My states population is four and a half million. The roads were a lot safer when I was a knee high to a grasshopper.

Great post, Grannymar.

You are correct about the ‘anticipation’.

Did those stats give a Male - Female breakdown? I know that when Elly was learning the insurance for her was about half that for a boy of the same age.