Looking at this change with neutral eyes ,I fail to see this is good news from a competence and safety point of view.
While accepting that many of us older drivers may be seen as having an unfair advantage, with our licences granted under less stringent conditions, it seems strange not to train younger drivers to maintain and tow heavy loads with a competence examination following this.
My own mother,in her early twenties was able to walk into a post office and buy a licence to drive heavy double axle goods lorries, HGVs with trailers, commercial buses, tractors ,earth movers,cars and motorbikes. We look back in horror at the standards of that time which is not so long ago. I might suggest that the same view to towing heavy trailers,without appropriate training, will be taken in the not too distant future.
We are all somewhat resistant to rules and regulations and especially examinations but I for one would be happier to drive on roads where my family and friends are not put at risk from even one incompetent trailer driver. I include myself in gaining experience of towing trailers by trial and error and was definitely not safe at all times. And by the way, my mother wasn’t even very safe in control of a car without a trailer…
Stephen Foyle. BR20
