Are you a wannabe young driver? Do you know a young learner driver with a birthday coming up? If you are or you do, then we have the perfect gift idea for anyone approaching their 16th or 17th birthday who wants to get their driving career off to a really good start.

BSM, the UK's largest driving school, are offering a great driving experience that can help young drivers prepare for their theory test and give them four hours in a purpose built driving simulator; building driving skills and helping the learner driver get used to the controls and seating in a car.

The gift certificate, available at buy-a-gift.co.uk for £55, also gives a discount off a block booking of 10 hours of lessons and comes with a BSM Theory Complete pack that has lots of theory test learning tools and a practical test guide.

All in all it's the perfect 17th birthday gift.

Young drivers are often criticised for reckless driving. What do they do wrong? A series of videos that Hoot Car Insurance came across on YouTube highlights the problems.

In this one, a young man is using his mobile phone at the wheel. It is so easy for a driver to do, overlooking the consequences of such careless behaviour at the wheel:

Reckless Youth Driving video

There is no gore or shocking fatal accidents like some of the UK warning adverts. It is simple in style but demonstrates how passengers can help change poor driving by young people.

View all the reckless driving videos by visiting the YouTube website.

A debate has raged this morning in the Hoot office as we have argued as to whether or not the Um Bongo hippo could drive a car.

If he could juggle an apricot, a guava, and a mango and put the passion fruit with the mandarin and still dance a dainty tango then he must be able to parallel park with ease, I'm guessing.

And I really don't care that hippos don't have opposable thumbs because if a python picked the passion fruit, the marmoset the mandarin and a parrot painted the packets that the whole caboodle landed in, then really anything is possible with a little imagination, isn't it?

Um Bongo Um Bongo - It's a fabulous old songo (sorry)
And when we're thinking car insurance we like to speak the lingo.
With talk of no-claim discounts and young driver cover
And urges never to lend your car to your younger brother
Cos third party only cover won't payout for your Punto
If you're caught distracted driving whilst sucking your Um Bongo

From signs telling us where to park and where not to park, signs warning us of sheep/cows/horses/deer/ducks and even frogs on the road, Britain has gone a little bit road sign crazy. I have even spotted a sign to notify drivers that a sign has been removed.

Although the vast majority are necessary and helpful, you always come across the odd few where the road sign maker obviously had a quota of blank signs to work through so decided to just make up a whole load to meet his production targets.

My driving instructor used to keep an album of all the peculiar road signs he came across and used to get very excited when he stumbled across a new sign to add to his collection. As well as a place in his album, the sign would also earn a stiff letter to the local council informing them of their ridiculous signage.

Despite my instructor's best efforts, such signs can still be found across our roads to this day and are likely to keep springing up across the country.
Check out the BBC website for some of the worst offenders around the world.

[Image © the bridge via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence]

Perhaps tired from all his car stealing, a dozy car thief in Australia has been arrested after falling asleep in a car wash. Police say the 30-year-old man drove the Audi convertible into the automatic car wash in the early hours of the morning and then fell asleep.

Noticing that the car hadn't moved for an hour, the service station attendant called the police who woke and then arrested the driver after they found two different number plates on the car. It was discovered that the car had been stolen.

The sleepy driver was released on bail pending his court case. No doubt he will not be going through any more car washes for a while.

I'm a confirmed fan of four wheels.

Having seen the effects of a two wheeled crash involving my brother and his girlfriend at close hand, I have never much cared for the idea of nipping between the traffic or relying on two tyres to get me home in a torrential downpour.

But I love scooters (the iconic 60s variety that is) and always felt safe on the back of my boyfriend's beloved and tenderly cared for Vespa, a 1965 GS 150, as we pootled around on what my friends described as a souped up hairdryer.

Anyway, I recently spotted Piaggio's latest scooter offering and guess what - it's got three wheels – one at the back and two at the front.

Yes, it looks a touch odd when it's parked, but you should see it at full tilt. It carves round corners like any other two-wheeled monster and yet, it has the stability of a much weightier beast. It can tackle cobblestones, and wet patchy asphalt, and if you're in Sheffield for the weekend, it will glide over tram tracks as if they weren't there.

Now it doesn't, to my mind, have the grace and iconicism of the 60s models, but for sheer innovation (and the fact that there's a hybrid model in the offing) I think I'll give it the thumbs up.

Take a look for yourself at the Piaggio website.

Image © francescopozzi via Flickr, under Creative Commons licence

If you're a fan of custom cars, retro motoring or American hot rods, and you have a spare wad of cash at your disposal, you might want to get yourself over to Los Angeles in September for the auction of 80 Icons of Speed & Style by RM Auctions.

Billed as a once in a lifetime chance to buy rare and prestigious custom and vintage cars of the 20th Century, each vehicle will be sold without reserve, so the opportunity for a bargain may well occur. But with the worldwide publicity the auction has attracted, I wouldn't hold your breath.

Pre-sale estimates for the collection range from $6 million – $9 million (Approx £3.5 million - £5.5 million) and that means, at an extremely conservative estimate, the average price of one of these pieces of automotive history is going to be around £43,000.

Alternatively, visit your local car auction venue where a P reg Fiat Punto will set you back around 600 smackers. Bargain!

Image © mikebaird via Flickr, under Creative Commons licence

Having just got a big shock while getting out my car and getting no sympathy from my fellow car insurance colleagues, I decided to find out how I can stop myself getting electrified every time I get out of my car.

Girls and maybe male ballet dancers are the most prone to getting shocks simply because they are most likely to wear tights which build up static more than any other clothing. Once the static has built up, you are liable to get zapped the next time you touch something metal.

Apparently the best prevention for electric shocks in your car is to drive around naked. However, this may lead to a few crashes and almost certainly is going to get you stopped by the police.

Therefore the best thing to do is keep contact with the metal part of the door while you're getting out and spraying the car with anti-static spray which helps reduce the static build up.

Fingers crossed the spray will work because I don't think the world is ready for seeing me drive around naked.

[Image © r000pert via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence]