garethr Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Another call for "everybody knows" legislation. Everybody knows modified cars cause accidents, so evidence isn't needed. Modified cars 'could put lives at risk' Lives are being put at risk by young motorists who modify their cars to boost performance, says the AA. The motoring organisation wants tighter controls for things like nitrous oxide kits which are used to massively increase an engine's power. AA Chairman Edmund King says it's young motorists who are most at risk and he wants to see new rules about how much people can modify their cars. Five hundred young people die in car crashes across the UK every year. Nitrous oxide is just one of the things motorists are using to soup-up their cars and make them go faster. It's usually known as laughing gas and used to make fillings less painful at the dentist, but in a car it has a very different effect...... ......However the AA is worried about inexperienced drivers behind the wheels of such powerful cars. King added: "We believe that many hundreds of lives are put at risk by these modified cars. Some 20% of new drivers have a crash in their first year of driving. If you then put them in a modified car that's harder to control, that's faster, that has an extra 200 break horse power, then accidents are much more likely to happen." The AA says it would like new rules on modifications, including nitrous oxide, but there are no current plans to change the law. http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7987000/7987689.stm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbleapple Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Think they have a point personally. Note they are refering to engine modifications not body modifications etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colsoop Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Rubbish. The law still doesn't stop any young driver (as seen on here) buying a powerful car after having very little experience Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewen Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 "break horse power" AA fails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R3DG3CKO ROB Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 The problem is inexperienced young drivers owning powerfull cars they can't handle, that has always been the case and isn't limited to engine modifications. If kids want to drive powerfull cars they should have to take an advanced driving test which teaches them how to handle it... Hell, perhaps we should all have to do that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 On the BBC there was a story about naawwwwsszzz. Can you tell another F&F is out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extendor Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Rubbish. The law still doesn't stop any young driver (as seen on here) buying a powerful car after having very little experience No but their wallet does if they try to insure it. How many young drivers actually declare their mods? They are acting irresponsibly if they dont because the insurer could fail to pay if they have an accident. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanBEXsupra Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 im 22 and i drive sensibly. is that bad for my age? let us not forget that some have rich parents! i 'knew' someone who got bought a mustang from the states in 2003. it lasted about 3 months. and so did he Edit : just for the record. i dont have rich parents... lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_p Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 im 22 and i drive sensibly. is that bad for my age? let us not forget that some have rich parents! i 'knew' someone who got bought a mustang from the states in 2003. it lasted about 3 months. and so did he Edit : just for the record. i dont have rich parents... lol Woo, same age as me, even when I got mine at 20 I still drove sensibly, but there are other people my age who don't, it's not about the age of the driver at all, young or old, you still get tw@s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guigsy Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 im getting a bit fed up of bbc's newsbeat. they sensationalise everything. Besides. I bet nitrous on young peoples cars causes very few accidents that might not happen anyway. And of those number where people die it would be very small. They wont change the law just because 1 or 2 people a year kill themselves. If they did most things would be illegal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holden1989 Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 "break horse power" AA fails. almost as good as soup-up Where is this original text taken from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R3DG3CKO ROB Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 No but their wallet does if they try to insure it. How many young drivers actually declare their mods? They are acting irresponsibly if they dont because the insurer could fail to pay if they have an accident. So the problem is really that we have a lack of regulation on modifications? Maybe we need some sort of ministry of transport who check every car for safety each year? then we won't have these problems... oh, hang on... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 How many young drivers actually declare their mods? They are acting irresponsibly if they dont because the insurer could fail to pay if they have an accident. Fail to pay who? The insurer can only refuse the Full Comp claims of the insured person himself, they cannot refuse to consider third party claims. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 What a load of shite, the whole article is a load of tat. For a start they mention how many young people are involved in accidents but they don't mention how many were as a result of NOS or modified engines. The use of statistics to try and back up opinions that have nothing to do with the original statistic, other than "young people" is shocking. I agree that young people shouldn't be allowed to jump straight into the deep end but that whole argument just reeks of "nothing better to do". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supra-Brett Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Rubbish. The law still doesn't stop any young driver (as seen on here) buying a powerful car after having very little experience Yup, i agree. Whats the difference between an originally lower powered car which has been modified to increase the power and a car with high power to start ? If mods are banned, people will just buy a more powerfull car from the factory. Its not what you drive its how you drive. Banning modifications isnt the way forward, but maybe banning young people from owning high powered/modified cars is the answer ? I know this is unfair to those young people who do drive sensibly, but at the end of the day we all know the statistics speak for themselves - Young people have more accidents, and its this that needs tackling not modified cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Yup, i agree. Whats the difference between an originally lower powered car which has been modified to increase the power and a car with high power to start ? Brakes, suspension and chassis etc are designed with that higher power in mind from the outset. Power is always the first mod for most people as everyone wants to go faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Brakes, suspension and chassis etc are designed with that higher power in mind from the outset. Power is always the first mod for most people as everyone wants to go faster. In my opinion 9 times out of 10 they don't. They just want to be able to say they have a faster car than X or Y. Look at people who add nos to their car. In most cases it doesn't get used a lot, its more of a "yeah i've got nos in my car" kinda thing. Of course the exceptions are the true petrol head's and the 1/4 mile enthusiasts but i just mean in general. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 In my opinion 9 times out of 10 they don't. They just want to be able to say they have a faster car than X or Y. Thats my point, where as a high powered car from a large corp would be designed with these in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dozymare Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 I always thought it was woefully unfair that they brought in complicated legislation around bikes limiting the power for new licence holders but not on cars. At least with a bike you're only likely to kill yourself... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Budz86 Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 One thing I noticed when I took my driving lessons and test 4 and a half years ago is you don't do any high-speed driving. I was never taken on a motorway, and the fastest I ever drove with instructor was 55 mph. That isn't very fast, and as soon as I drove on the motorway the first time I was nervous as hell! Also, you learn in new cars (less than 3 yrs old) but how many young drivers have a brand new car with fully working brakes/suspension etc? Not that many! So it's also the type of cars young drivers own that push the crash rate up too! Oh, and a direct port nitrous system from Wizards of NOS would cost a minimum of £500, plus filling the bottle, plus making the internals stronger and getting it all fitted. Too expensive for your average chav that spent less than that buying the car! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Thats my point, where as a high powered car from a large corp would be designed with these in mind. I think you misunderstand. I mean 9 times out of 10 they don't actually want/need a faster car. They just want to be able to say that their car is faster than x or y. Look at all the pub talk about peoples cars. They don't actually have fast cars, or they are a lot less impressive than they make out. Young people usually only want to impress, its not about what they want, its what they want to appear to have. Don't know if that makes any sense but it does in my head lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 I think you misunderstand. I mean 9 times out of 10 they don't actually want/need a faster car. They just want to be able to say that their car is faster than x or y. Look at all the pub talk about peoples cars. They don't actually have fast cars, or they are a lot less impressive than they make out. Young people usually only want to impress, its not about what they want, its what they want to appear to have. Don't know if that makes any sense but it does in my head lol. I sort of see where you are going with that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 I agree with Scott M on the part that nowhere have they stated a figure for how many of the many young drivers killed/injured were indeed in a modified car Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Massey Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 This article is a load of bull. They are talking about NOS use with younger drivers and the death/accident rate. What a load of bol*ox as it's illegal to use NOS on the road anyway so there goes point number one trying to inforce a law Plus the AA always announce that speed is not a major factor in accidents which they have proved over and over again. As said it is how poeple drive, yes younger people are more prone to accidents as they have less experience and probably dont know how to handle or cope with near misses. But no matter the age there is always some idiots on the road that cause these accidents Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 This article is a load of bull. They are talking about NOS use with younger drivers and the death/accident rate. What a load of bol*ox as it's illegal to use NOS on the road anyway so there goes point number one trying to inforce a law Plus the AA always announce that speed is not a major factor in accidents which they have proved over and over again. As said it is how poeple drive, yes younger people are more prone to accidents as they have less experience and probably dont know how to handle or cope with near misses. But no matter the age there is always some idiots on the road that cause these accidents Agree 100%. I think you should write to the AA with the above and enclose a pic of your avatar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.