STUDENT SUPPLEMENT THE WORCESTER
Driving Leaves Teenagers Skint!
of travelling to her college every day, and not being able to find a part time job would just not allow her to do so.
For us teenagers, there is nothing more exciting than the prospect of being able to take one of the first big steps towards the road to independence, and more importantly, freedom. However, that freedom comes with a price. A big one. Learning to drive for teenagers has always been a part of life that has seemed inevitable. The thought of being to drive yourself wherever you want, whenever you want, is just so compelling that you simply dream of the day where you’ll be standing there with that small, shiny card with your name and picture granting you access to the roads. However, as the years have passed, the prices for learning to drive have risen a large amount. So much so that young drivers have even decided not to learn to drive! Money issues have been rising and rising for years and for teenagers it is becoming impossible to even find a part time job in order to gain some extra pocket money. So how can teenagers expect to afford to pay for driving lessons, let alone pay to own
a car? To get a Provisional license itself already costs £50! Currently it takes an average learner driver 14 months to pass their practical test, and according to a government survey, almost two thirds of young drivers who can’t drive were put off by the cost of learning to drive. Driving lessons currently stand at an average price of £24 a lesson. An increase of 14% since 2005. If people are struggling to find a job, or in fact have to be conscious with what they do with the money they do earn, how are they supposed to afford £24 an hour. I recently caught up with a friend of mine a few weeks back, and they told me that they were taking driving lessons, but had to stop because she simply couldn’t afford it and didn’t have the time. What’s worse is that she does in fact have a part time job, and yet she still can’t find the time or money to learn to drive. Another friend of mine also stated that she wanted to learn to drive, but the cost
Then, there is the cost of running a car. About five years ago a 35 year old would have had to pay around £245 for their car insurance. Today they would pay £325. However for a 17 year old you would have had to pay around £2,500. You think that’s bad? Nowadays you’d have to pay at least £4,000 and significantly more if you’re male. This is because companies say young male drivers are ten times more likely to have an accident than someone over 35 It comes as no surprise then that more and more young drivers are deciding against taking driving lessons. They just simply cannot afford it. However it is known that if you persist in taking driving lessons and then ultimately become an experienced driver, your car insurance is more likely to decrease. Simon Douglass, the Director of AA Car Insurance, made this statement, “It doesn’t matter what age you learn to drive, the longer you spend behind the wheel the better you’ll be as a driver,” however as it currently stands, that appears hard to do if you’re a teenager.
By Kate Burley