Easier driving tests?

[Square Leg]

What a smashing idea.
Let’s get more incompetent drivers on the roads because current driving standards are way too high…

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/365261/driving-...

[ScotHill]

I think they should make driving tests easier but introduce a stringent 'dhead test', repeatable every ten years, as that's the people I have problems with on the roads, not the young and newly-passed.

[mac96]

Square Leg said:

What a smashing idea.
Let’s get more incompetent drivers on the roads because current driving standards are way too high…

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/365261/driving-...

I suppose they want to reduce the numbers of repeat tests taken. My suggestion would be that you could take a second test but if you failed that you had to wait 2 years between further ones. And perhaps a 5 year wait after 5 attempts, as someone who has failed 5 tests needs a whole change in outlook/maturity, not more lessons.
Fewer tests, better drivers.

[Square Leg]

mac96 said:

I suppose they want to reduce the numbers of repeat tests taken. My suggestion would be that you could take a second test but if you failed that you had to wait 2 years between further ones. And perhaps a 5 year wait after 5 attempts, as someone who has failed 5 tests needs a whole change in outlook/maturity, not more lessons.
Fewer tests, better drivers.

Don’t really disagree with that.

I have a mate who’s son has failed his theory test 5 times now…

[captain_cynic]

A critically bad assumption most people make is that a person who passes a test is a good driver and vice versa, fails a test is a bad driver.

A test is just a single point in time and also places a lot of pressure on the applicant.

Also, for all the people critisisng this, who passed their test decades ago when it was raiser, I highly doubt you'd pass a modern driving test first go... Don't believe me (well of course you don't, dunning-kruger effect in effect), call a driving school and ask them to give you a maock test.

You've decades of ingrained bad habits, the test has changed and you refuse to believe you're not a brilliant driver.

ScotHill said:

I think they should make driving tests easier but introduce a stringent 'dhead test', repeatable every ten years, as that's the people I have problems with on the roads, not the young and newly-passed.

This.

Once you've passed your driving test you can be as bad a driver as you like and there are almost no consequences.

The problem with treating tests as a be all and end all is that you end up training people to pass a test. The best thing we can do is make the test easier and add x hours of supervised driving after passing (20 for arguments sake). That way a new driver can get experience and confidence on the road without worrying about tests.

[Yertis]

I think you should need to renew your license every two years for the first ten years, then every ten years. I'm the last person in the world to want more government interference in my life but apart from a few roadside lectures from Policemen and attending one of those speeding courses I've had no formal revision or testing on 42 years of driving. Which I think is a bit crazy. The best bits of advice re driving are those I've had on here, of all places. Best ones being "don't make the other dhead part of the rest of your life" and "driving is a team sport, not an individual competition".

[Square Leg]

Always remember my dad saying when I passed my test - ‘all you’ve learnt is how to pass a test, now you need to learn to drive’.

I believe he was correct.
I went on to do my IAM, and plan on doing ROSPA when I have more time.

Both my kids want to do the IAM.

[InitialDave]

Well, I don't know about making it just "easier", but I think there are things worth simplifying, for example removing the manual/automatic licence segregation seeing as how more and more cars are EVs and hybrids anyway.

Also not just for cars, but removing some of the duplication of doing another theory test when you've already done one (such as going for a bike licence when you already have a car one).

Tbh I'd massively roll back the complexity of bike licences anyway, but the powers that be are never going to go for that.

[otolith]

The analysis of test routes to ensure consistency of difficulty does seem a perfectly reasonable thing to do. How hard your test is shouldn't be a random function of which route you get allocated.

[Gecko1978]

In 1997 I worked at a petrol station as a student I had passed my driving test year before at 17, just before the theory test. 2nd time pass as 1st attempt was rubbish an resulted in examiner hitting break at a double mini roundabout.

So come the second try I was determined to keep my cool do everything by the book. It snowed that morning which actually helped slowed stuff down and I passed.

Anyway at the petrol station new guy starts his name is Shaheed and he turns up in a Vauxhall cavalier. Now I had a C plate fiesta 950 popular so a cavalier was quite Impressive to me back then. We gets talking an Shaheed tells me he failed his driving test 15 times 15!!!!!! Let that sink in 15 times. He had tried over 10 years to pass. I said well least you got there in the end to which he replied he had given up and just uses his brothers license even when he got a producer.

Working in a petrol station was and is an easy job, Shaheed lasted about 3 months.

[croyde]

You must pass a motorbike test first and then do at least 2 years and at least 8000 miles of bike riding before you can be considered for the car test

Being aware of how vulnerable you are on the bike, being super vigilant and having an understanding of road surfaces and conditions, as well as developing a good 6th sense about what all the other road users are about to do, makes one a better, more alert and understanding car driver.

[otolith]

croyde said:

You must pass a motorbike test first and then do at least 2 years and at least 8000 miles of bike riding before you can be considered for the car test

That should reduce the case load for the test centres - and the wait for organ donations.

[TeamD]

otolith said:

croyde said:

You must pass a motorbike test first and then do at least 2 years and at least 8000 miles of bike riding before you can be considered for the car test

That should reduce the case load for the test centres - and the wait for organ donations.

Hehe

[croyde]

TeamD said:

otolith said:

croyde said:

You must pass a motorbike test first and then do at least 2 years and at least 8000 miles of bike riding before you can be considered for the car test

That should reduce the case load for the test centres - and the wait for organ donations.

Hehe

See, problem solved

[simon_harris]

croyde said:

TeamD said:

otolith said:

croyde said:

You must pass a motorbike test first and then do at least 2 years and at least 8000 miles of bike riding before you can be considered for the car test

That should reduce the case load for the test centres - and the wait for organ donations.

Hehe

See, problem solved

This by far the best suggestion I have ever seen about driving tests!

[Square Leg]

Unless I’ve read it incorrectly, the only reason they want to make the test easier is to reduce the backlog - to pass anyone that wouldn’t normally pass will not raise driving standards.

[GR86oldboy]

When I passed my test in 1981 my dad said "right you learned to pass your test, now you need to learn to drive".

As he was an ex traffic plod he thrust a copy of Roadcraft in my hands, told me to learn it then we spent hours on the road practicing, I found giving a running commentary of what I saw, what I was doing and actually doing it of such benefit by focusing on driving I still find myself doing it.

What we need is higher standards, not lower.

[milkround]

Yertis said:

I think you should need to renew your license every two years for the first ten years, then every ten years. I'm the last person in the world to want more government interference in my life but apart from a few roadside lectures from Policemen and attending one of those speeding courses I've had no formal revision or testing on 42 years of driving. Which I think is a bit crazy. The best bits of advice re driving are those I've had on here, of all places. Best ones being "don't make the other dhead part of the rest of your life" and "driving is a team sport, not an individual competition".

The problem with this is that a lot of people wouldn’t pass. And for most people driving is pretty much essential if you don’t live in London.

What happens to the community nurse when she can’t drive? What about the junior doctor who does random shifts at night? What about the midwife who also does random shifts? Or even the low paid supermarket worker who stocks the shelves at Tesco when everyone else is sleeping? If those people couldn’t drive they couldn’t work and pay taxes and their mortgages.

I’m going to go against the grain and say that the uk is up there in terms of test difficulty anyway. So why impose more hoops to jump through?

[otolith]

Square Leg said:

Unless I’ve read it incorrectly, the only reason they want to make the test easier is to reduce the backlog - to pass anyone that wouldn’t normally pass will not raise driving standards.

That's the accusation being levelled, and denied.

[Billy_Rosewood]

I don't agree with making tests easier or even re-testing every few years, but perhaps something like a Cbt every few years.. A re-evaluation every few years to ensure you're not a full on retard and to reign in bad habits where possible.