http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41033140"Practising on rural roads should be a compulsory part of driving lessons, according to a road safety charity.
Brake is calling for a new licensing system that would include a minimum driving period and restrictions for new drivers, along with the rural training.
The organisation's director of campaigns called the mix of rural roads and novice drivers "lethal".
In 2015, 120 young drivers died on UK roads, with 80% of crashes taking place in rural locations.
"High speeds, sharp bends, narrow lanes, risky overtaking and the presence of vulnerable road users like cyclists, make rural roads the most dangerous by far," said Jason Wakeford from Brake.
Lowering of drink-drive legal limit urged
New drivers found texting to lose licence
The charity believes a "graduated" licensing system, which would also include a zero drink-drive limit for those who are newly qualified, would allow drivers to build up more skills and experience.
Mr Wakeford added: "This approach has dramatically reduced road casualties in countries including Australia and New Zealand and could save some 400 lives a year if implemented in the UK."
The charity is also calling for a review of rural speed limits, more affordable public transport and the introduction of "Voluntary
Four years ago, Alison Eames was out riding her horse, Dylan, when she was struck by a car.
The impact Dylan took broke his spine and he had to be put down.
She backs the proposals from Brake and thinks more training for drivers on rural roads would save others from the same experience.
Media captionAlison Eames was riding Dylan on a road near Ratcliffe-on-the-Wreake when the accident happened
"We meet some very savvy people that understand horses are not motorbikes and unfortunately can get frightened," she said. "Then you meet other people who drive very aggressively, [who] will overtake you with only a few inches to spare.
"We then get other people that will stay behind us for 20 minutes because they don't understand how to overtake us"
Perhaps ,just once , Brake has hit upon a good idea, but since most test centres are in urban areas, how would this work. But saying that, perhaps Brake would like to explain to learners who is going to foot the extra cost of this, when most of the test seems to concentrate on outdated ideas , held by a DOT ( or whatever fancy name it now uses) that still lives just out of the red flag era.
Overtaking ,IMHO seems to be like common sense dead and buried. ( Possibly thanks to the even more antiquated views of the Brake brigade).
Drink drive limit- it's not broke , so don't fix it. What might do some good is improve chances of detection , but ,hey, this would mean more Police out and about ).
New drivers texting to lose licence. Why not all drivers/horse and cycle riders as well ).But then only motorists have a licence to loose.
Horse riders,- I've found in my years on the road ( all 50 of them ) ,that horse riders & horses come in all flavours.Some good ,some bad and horses can vary from totally confident to spooked by anything noisy. But then, ( and I've no axe to grind about horse riders- I just treat all horses as iffy ,till they prove different . What is so wrong with staying behind a horse for a length of time ? I've always found the better riders will help you pass if you do . But again, perhaps the onus should be on horse riders to ensure that the hgorses are capable of being ridden on the road without danger.