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I think that is important that I am clear about this. When I was in my late teens and early twenties, I did drive less responsibly than I do now. I even received penalty points on my license for a few traffic misdemeanours. Like many young people I was not fully perceptive to mortal dangers or the dangers of a car accident and a no win, no fee claim.
Yet while age might make us less exciting in many ways for example, these days, even on a Saturday, my light is usually out by 10pm it also makes us vastly more sensible. Gone are my days of epic nights out spent drinking and smoking.
Whereas just a few years ago "having a drink" would have meant losing count of the number of units I'd consume in a night, these days it means having a single glass of wine or, on rare evenings, sharing a whole bottle of wine with my fiance.
The same goes for driving. "Getting there quickly" used to mean a little extra pressure on the accelerator, these days it means planning my route, making my sandwiches the night before and keeping abreast of the traffic reports. As a result, I know that I am far less likely to end up as either the defendant or the claimant in a no win, no fee claim.
Overall, I'd have to say that the added temperance of maturity far outweighs any regrets I have about the losing the pleasures of youth's excesses. And if I ever suffer any twinges of doubt about this, I just remind myself of what has happened to those contemporaries of mine who have failed to grow up.
Few of these serve as useful a reminder of this of as one of my closest college friends.
Jeff (not his real name) was always a great deal of fun. He was one of those people who as the life and the soul of the party could be relied on to still be up encouraging the party to continue as us weaker specimens would be retiring to home then bed.
People loved him for it. I suppose one of the things that was so appealing about Jeff was that he made us feel better about ourselves.
If, perhaps, one our group of friends thought he or she was taking things a little far, it was standard to be reassured by Jeff. Because he burnt the candle at both ends, getting on with his course work and social life so successfully, it was easy to think, "If he can do it then so can I."
It was like this right until our final year at college. It was during this graduation year that I remember looking at Jeff one night and thinking, "You look awful, suddenly old. Maybe you should give the partying a rest while you get on with preparing for your finals."
Yet I never said anything. I sometimes regret that I didn't.
With hindsight, I suppose that we shouldn't have been surprised that Jeff didn't do that well in his final year.
Though it was true that he had coasted through the preceding three years achieving really good grades, his excesses did have to take their toll at some time, and so they did, leaving him unable to get the internship he'd always hoped to achieve.
The last time I heard of Jeff was when I ran into his ex-girlfriend.
She told me that they'd stuck at it for two years before she decided enough was enough and that, with his extreme lifestyle, she just didn't have it in her to be committed to him anymore.
What she said next showed just how little Jeff had really grown up.
In 2005 Jeff was driving home with a friend from a major national music festival. Although some people were aware of just how bad Jeff's drinking had got, this one particular friend wasn't.
So little did he know that Jeff had now begun carrying a hipflask with him everywhere he went. And little did he know that Jeff was slightly drunk when embarking on the 70-mile drive home.
Only 15 miles into the journey Jeff crashed into a roadside wall, writing the car off in the process. As his chest hit the steering wheel, he punctured a lung.
His blameless passenger suffered bruises as well as severe whiplash injuries. Jeff's ex told me how angry his friend was at having his life put at risk. He felt particularly incensed as he'd only just become a father and felt unbelievable shock that his new son could so easily have lost his dad.
Furthermore, in addition to this he was also forced to take nearly two months off work as a result of the car accident.
It was these reasons that prompted him to make a no win, no fee claim for personal injury compensation.
Needless to say he won his no win, no fee claim and Jeff was suspended from driving.
I don't know what Jeff is doing now. I just hope that he's grown up a bit and is abiding by his driving ban. All I know is that if he doesn't, he risks not only a no win, no fee claim and a prison sentence, but he could also lose his life as well.
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