RSA ad on unaccompanied L drivers

Tbh, I think some of the fault is in the learning and licensing system. A year after I did my theory test I did 20 minutes or so of what I can honestly say was some the very worst driving I had done in months and I suddenly had the right to take a car full of squabbling children on the motorway on a daily basis. It just seems really unbalanced somehow. You go from passing a theory test to being allowed to just drive on the roads as long as someone with a license sits next to you. Without any practical lessons whatsoever you could be out on the N7 in a large van with no rear view and 3 screaming kids in the back, alongside your granny who hasn't actually driven in 15 years. Or after 12 lessons, 6 months and 20 minutes of quiet, suburban driving on a nice day was over, just you and the screaming kids can do loops of the M50 on an icy morning or drive the Gap of Dunloe in a storm.

It's just all so uneven a system and the reality is that it allows people on the road who are often not remotely prepared for the type of driving they are doing. While the nearly 6 month wait for test dates just magnifies the pressure for excellent drivers who crumble under the pressure of a test. Should a young woman who had a few months of 'driving' and 9 lessons under her belt have been out alone in a car? Absolutely not. Is there a strong possibility that had her parent or a responsible older sibling been in the car with her that they would have told her to slow down before the bend? Almost certainly. But was the law enough of a preventative measure? Not necessarily. She could have been accompanied by a similarly young friend who was a licensed driver of 2+ years but not confident enough to correct her driving and still have been within the law. She could have been accompanied by the type of adult driver who is cockily blasé about the risks of driving on our rural roads and didn't tell her to slow in time. And our rural roads are full of those drivers so the odds of that aren't low. She could have been accompanied by an excellent driver who is a crap teacher who could have agitated her and made her driving worse. I honestly think that the RSA should be focussing on changing the whole learning to drive process rather than attempting to scare and shame people into complying with a very flawed system.