Our columnist this week is Martyn Hannah, a 16-year-old with clear views about driving.

If, like me, you are of an age where you are gagging to get into a car and drive for mile after mile of unspoiled motoring, also like me you will be a good few months off the age of actually being able to doing it.

Surprisingly, driving isn't as hard as it looks. So long as you make smooth gear changes, are sensitive with the clutch and can distinguish the difference between the brake and the accelerator, you'll have no problem getting to grips with it. Even my friend can do it and she thinks Latin is a country.

So, once you have done your two to three months of driver training you will find yourself at a test centre sitting in a car with a man and a clipboard. He'll ask you to do a number of things to show you can drive a car safely and competently. He'll tick and cross boxes and at the end tell you if you have passed or if you're going to need more lessons.

Obviously, you have already passed your theory test as I don't think it's actually been failed yet. Anyway, guess what? It's your lucky day, you've passed! This now means you belong to the most common club across the entire globe. You are a fully paid-up member of the driving fraternity. You even get a little card with your photo on to remind you.

You find yourself behind the wheel of your mum's hot hatch. At your side is your girlfriend, with a selection of your mates crammed in the back. You head for some sweeping country roads where you can display your new skills and wow your friends into believing you are a relative of Herr Schumacher.

You exit the ring road and the country route starts to open in front of you. The adrenaline pumps a little as your mates cheer in the back of the car. They suggest that you throw it into the next bend a little faster, so you do. Before you know, it the back end is falling away from you and you have no chance of catching it. The rest, as they say, is history.

According to the government this is what happens to every teenage driver. The first thing most people do when they pass their test is drive home, incredibly carefully, and gloat.

It therefore seems a trifle stupid for Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman to suggest making driving tests harder. Changing the format from 40 minutes to 60 isn't going to prove a great deal. I suppose it shows that you can hold your bladder for another 20 minutes between motorway services but, driving competence? I think not.

The government is clearly trying to prevent accidents happening but I have a better way of doing it. A few years ago I spent a week in China, spending some time looking round a school. Halfway through the tour we stopped off at a room.

As the door swept open it revealed an army of little wardrobe-sized driving simulators. Each week the students, as young as 12, would come down for a driving lesson. At the age of 16 teenagers are allowed to have road lessons, accumulate a handsome amount of driving hours and with it road sense and safety. When they turn 17 they are then permitted to take their test. Introducing this in Britain would be marvellous.

Sadly, this isn't the entire solution. It's all well and good teaching driving from a young age but for one to be competent on the road one must posses a very key quality.

Commonsense. Testing for that, Mr Ladyman, is down to you.