Based on your driving skills and ranking during testing, and normal re-testing, maintenance of driving record, etc., you receive color-coded licence plates allowing for special privelages. Weaving in and out of lanes becomes permissable with Blue, Speed in excess of 80mph allowable for bearers of Red Plates and so forth. U-Turns whereever one desires would be a very handy privelage here in the US, where in certain parts they make it nearly impossible to turn around once a freeway onramp sign has misguided you.
Additional perks could include access to certain roads, that would be restricted to less skilled drivers.-- thirdcherry, Mar 27 2005 It's usefulness would depend on 1) how the plates were determined/distributed and 2) how many people had "privileged" plates.
It's a nice idea in general, but the specifics would be quite a headache, I think. Still, I like it. :-)-- justibone, Mar 27 2005 Having driven my dads golf around the block when I was 12, this would be a good idea, seeing as that my dad is a good driver, and then I could pretty much get away with driving the car slightly wonkily.
(yes, I know it was illegal, but I drove round my aunts farm block house thing, and since it was private property, it was legal. Just.)-- froglet, Mar 27 2005 Maybe if the plates with elevated privileges also carried a whopping road tax surcharge and increased penalties for infractions and increased share of liability for accidents, only then would I begin to see this as worthy of consideration and, even then, it'd be a hard sell.
(However, I realize that there is, currently, a way to get a special plate and extra driving privileges in my state.)-- bristolz, Mar 27 2005 //Maybe if the plates with elevated privileges also carried a whopping road tax surcharge and increased penalties for infractions and increased share of liability for accidents//
Well, for starters, it would be part of a tiered testing and application process. Once you complete the written and in-car tests for the standard license, other tests become available, with an application fee. Infractions would likely occur less often, since drivers who can handle the car under speed concerns, would not be troubled as much for speeding, unless it actually caused others harm, or put them in unnecessary jeopardy. Accidents could carry a larger penalty, though. And insurance discounts are usually given for advanced driver training, not increases. As training increases, so should increase skill and ability to avoid accidents, thereby reducing liability.-- thirdcherry, Mar 31 2005 My point is that special priveleges exercised on publically funded property, regardless of demonstrated skill, should carry a disproportionately large set of fees.
As for insurance liability decreasing, I can only see that happening if the driver was highly trained but didn't use that training to drive in a dramatically different manner than the rest oif the drivers on the road.
Finally, this is all available today if you become a police officer.-- bristolz, Mar 31 2005 What [bristolz] said. Also, [froglet] has a point - - the car isn't always going to be driven by the same person. The license plate would be potentially inaccurate and problematic.
Despite the above, [thirdcherry], I think this is a really great first idea [+]. Welcome to the halfbakery!-- contracts, Mar 31 2005 Believe it or not, this is sort of the case in B.C. Canada. If you are a new driver or have not had a vehicle insured in your name you automatically pay forty percent above the standard rate and are required to display a fluorescent red *L* sticker prominently on the inside of your rear window. After three months (I think) the sticker is changed to a much more aesthetically pleasing florescent green *N*.For each year without a claim your insurance is decreased by ten percent until you’ve got four years clean driving under your belt.
After that you begin to work on your *road star* status which entitles you to things like, one *your fault* accident without a rate hike, cheap car rentals, and road side assistance.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Mar 31 2005 Is it called the "loser" sticker?-- bristolz, Mar 31 2005 Yep. We call the green one the Newfie sticker.
Royal *we* of course.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 01 2005 random, halfbakery