“There are a lot of idiots on the road … I mean, uneducated people, unaware of their surroundings,” Umar, my driving examiner, corrects himself. If he means clueless chumps like me, he’s right either way. I passed my driving test, first attempt, age 17, and drove regularly until I moved to London in my late 20s. But driving is like riding a bike, right? You never forget. Or so I thought. Under scrutiny 30 years later, it appears I’ve certainly forgotten some vital rules of the road. Like how to parallel park, check for blind spots and avoid crashing into e-scooters that weren’t even invented in my day.
I’ve decided to put myself to trial with a mock driving test because with all the recent news about the dangers of younger drivers, I’ve come to suspect older drivers like me are getting off easy. The AA has called for new drivers under 21 to be banned from carrying passengers of a similar age, while previous governments have suggested banning them from driving at night or using a six-points-in-two-years-and-you’re-out graduate driving licence scheme. This seems harsh. Driving your friends around after passing is a teenage rite of passage. The evening I passed my test, I was elbow out the window of my mum’s Mk 1 1974 metallic purple Escort, tunes on the stereo, mates in the back, cruisin’ round town like a pro.
