Dan B

There are sooooo many cr4p drivers these days. I would have no problem with re-taking my test every 5 years or so. Insurance should go down

GU5

You really think it would work???

People CAN drive well when they know they are being tested, think about when they have a police car following them. As soon as there is no authoritive figure/ tester in the car they will go back to driving in the same old ways.

And i bet most of the people who do drive bad and couldn't pass the re-test would continue driving anyway.

Brendan Hughes

I think the three main problems would be:

Insurance (private sector) would go down, but admin expenses for tests (paid by public sector) would go up = higher taxes.

What's the current wait for a driving test? Multiply that backlog by (how many retests in a life for someone for every 5 yrs =) 10-12?

How would the police enforce driving without a current licence? Random roadblock checks for documents, like on the Continent?

Oh yeah, and 4 - civil rebellion in the UK...

Nick_TypeUK

The driving test as it is a simply a joke, it has allways been a problem and the goverments answer is to spend billions on confusing traffic management and speed traps

the german system is vastly better

I would include

Minimum of say 100 hours driving and practise
Only allowed out with qualified instructors
Night Driving (min 20 hours of the 100 hours)
Motorway Driving (min 20 hours)
Car control, with a complusory test on a skid pan that needed to be passed
Danger observation training

Retest every 5 years then every year over 70

30% of the people on the road should not be there

richs2891

I reckon there should be a compulsary re test every 5 years or so. Agree with most of the comments made above in respect that people can drive better when think authority figure behind / near them. Well the answer to this is to surely get the Police concentrating on driving ability and not poilicing through the use of Gatso's and the like.
I think that the motorist should have to pay for the re test and associated cost and realise that driving a car in not an automatic right that most people assume that it is.
Do agree that the people that could not pass the test / fail would just drive anyway, Well then just make the fine large enough that it is a deterant ie not the current £250 for not having insurance as was quoted on this board a few days ago.
Would this new scheme not create new jobs ? Surely this has to be a good thing !
And yes think that should be law to carry driving liscence / insurance details with you, works OK in the States.

Richard

Dan B

Well, not sure really. I think it could be made to work.

I think it is force of bad habits that make alot of drivers bad. i.e. not signalling at roundabouts or for lane changes. It would make people re-assess their driving, and recap on the highway code etc. People simply forget, as well as not being arsed, or just plain reckless.

More excuses to lock them up when they get caught Could start showing licence for more tax disks etc...


I thought that the admin would be paid for by the testee...?

More drving instructors needed..... creates more jobs.

errr. same way they do today....?

hmmm. a bit ott. no worse than poll tax?



The way I see it is that hardly anybody in the UK doesn't drive. Public transport is a joke, people like their cars too much. There is, and will be more so in the future, too much traffic on the roads making them over crowded and more dangerous. People are more impatient and are taking greater and greater risks to get home 30 seconds earlier as the stress levels of driving are so high.

Driving standards are appalling and something needs to be done.

fatherpierre

What about the 100s of 1000s whose jobs depend on driving?

What would happen if just a small % of them failed?

On the dole.........

Nick_TypeUK

Germany has a very strict system, and most people pass, but there bloody good drivers afterwards (most of the time)

NotoriousREV

If they can't pass the test, they shouldn't be driving in the 1st place.

Motorway driving definately needs to be part of the test, people need to understand that joining the motorway at 40mph is dangerous (among many other comaplaints I have).

Out of interest, out of those bemoaning driving standards, what steps have you taken to improve your own driving? I'll start the ball rolling: none.

richs2891

Well surely if they where concerned about failing then they would get in touch with a driving instructor and get some extra lessons and ensure to their best of abilities that they dont fail !

Think its about time UK goverment looked at the current driving situation and looked at what the other countries do, try to take an idea from each country and get then update the driving test / abilities of a lot of people

Richard

edited to add I've passed my advanced driving (twice as forgot one year to renew and hence had to pass again)




[Edited by rsarjantson - 7/14/2003 4:29:48 PM]

fatherpierre

Well that'd put a good number of London's ignorant and dangerous Black Cab drivers out of work then

Dan B

Took the words off my keyboard....

richs2891

less congestion in the city then !

Might get above 2.5 mph then

Richard

Leslie

Those bemoaning driving standards are the ones who consider themselves to be perfect drivers Not Rev.

GU5 is right, the driving tests would do nothing to improve matters, the drivers would revert to their original standard afterward. Maybe penalties for seriously bad driving should be stronger and rigerously enforced.

Les

Dan B

I reckon the pros far out weigh the cons....

As for some of the cons: You could simply place a video camera in the testees car and say you need to drive this route. A computer program could be written to assess what happens etc.

richs2891

I agree with Dan B that the pro's far out weigh the cons.

I can see what Leslie is saying in that it will do nothing to improve driving standards as most people just learn enough to pass the test and then forget it all, but if you force people every five years to open and look / be tested on the highway code surely this has to be to the bnefit of everyone ! And a percentage of drivers would definately benefit from this.

Being honest now when was the last time you all looked at / bought the highway code. - Me it must be two years ago when cleaning out a drawer and found a copy

Richard

Dan B

Surely peeps must want the roads to be safer, and who would not want to be a "better" driver anyway...?

Witchfinder

How about a separate motorway test?

Brendan Hughes

If the FULL admin is paid for by the testee, and not heavily subsidised as I expect it is now, I think it would run into 3 figures easily.

So you'd be asking people every five years to have to stump up £100-plus for the test fee, plus maybe £200 or more for refresher lessons, and risk losing their jobs if they fail.

What politician would try to get elected on that platform? I assume your comment about the poll tax was tongue in cheek, as that's pretty much what brought down the Thatcher govt, and that's precisely my point. Although your idea is commendable, I think it would be viewed as political suicide to introduce it. That's why it hasn't been done and I'm sorry to say won't be done. I'd love to be proved wrong.

BTW, although you all moan, and one road death a year is one too many, the UK has some of the lowest road deaths per capita in Europe. Here's the overall stats, (unfortunately not per capita). So there's not so much political pressure for it from looking at the "competition" either.

Dan B

I'd rather spend a couple of hundred quid every few years to save more than that over in insurance.....

The govnt never got rid of poll tax though did they? Just gave it another name....

Brendan Hughes

People in high-performance cars would save. Not so sure about Mr Average in his Peugeot 307 diesel.

Sorry, don't want to appear argumentative or superior, but I've thought about this for some years, and these are the points I came up against. Ask your MP??

T.C

A few years ago serious consideration was given to introducing re-tests on a 5 or 10 yearly basis.

The idea was that instead of using driving examiners who test at the basic pass level (ordinary driving examiners) they would employ advanced driving/riding examiners like myself as we are already familiar with testing procedures.

Suffice to say the Government dropped the plans when they started to realise that all drivers are voters, and a compulsory re-test would bne a vote loser.

The other problem was the actual logistics. There are only about 2000 of us Nationaly trained as examiners, and the system would become overloaded so quickly, many people would be tempted just to continue driving without the re-test on the balance of probability that they wouldn't get caught until such time as an accident occured and the insurance issue kicked in.

Shame really, it could have been a good little earner

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Nick _type UK you are correct the German system is far better but saying that the majority of german drivers a crap with no common or road sense, they are tought to be aggresive at all times and giving way is a no no maybe it would be good if Cheeseboy posted up his experiense of sitting german driving lessons and a german driving test.

cheeseboy

Well, as requested here I am. And Nick_TypeUK, as for the german system being vastly better, well I am not too convinced. Having done this here I found it to be quite annoying, and difficult. True, the system makes you do many hours, including night driving, autobahn driving and in winter winter driving too. Plus the tests can be at any time of day/night - which makes it potentially crappy. I take it your list is a list YOU would want to see added, as many things you have listed ARE NOT done here...

Feel free to write any questions you have and I will try and answer it for you.

Neal

Brendan Hughes

Wife just narrowly failed her Portuguese theory test for the fourth time today... she was in tears...

She also had a practical lesson last night. Do they do this in the UK? When stopping momentarily (eg red traffic light), have your foot on the brake and the clutch, engage first gear (even on a hill). When parking on a hill, leave car in first gear if pointing uphill or reverse if down. When starting, always put feet on clutch and brake before turning the key.

Fuzz

Re: "" When stopping momentarily (eg red traffic light), have your foot on the brake and the clutch, engage first gear (even on a hill)"

Nope, supposed to apply handbrake when stationary.

Andy

Brendan Hughes

Exactly.

And they wonder why they're the worst drivers in Europe....

Leslie

You are advocating a rod for your own backs, and for no good reason. No one can avoid getting older, except by snuffing it early!

Les

Dan B

You have to voluntary retest at a certain age anyway, right? I think mines going to be in 2046, when my licence expires.

Fuzz

Have to..

Voluntary...