August 8, 2008

An online poll by UK car supermarket, Motorpoint, has found that the majority of motorists would like to see the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) make it compulsory for them to re-do their driving test when they reach 70.  Almost two thirds of the 900 people that took part in the poll said that they’d be happy to be tested, even if that meant the possibility of their failing.

Although there is no research to indicate that drivers become unable to drive safely at a specific age, recent tests by the Transport Research Laboratory have shown that, on average, the over-55s take 22% longer to react than drivers under-30. This would add 25ft (more than two car lengths) to the stopping distance if braking at 70mph.

David Shelton, Managing Director of Motorpoint comments: “The results of this poll show that people are honest enough to recognise their driving ability does deteriorate with age and that maybe the Government should consider mandatory re-testing at a certain age in the future.”

Your Driving covered the issue of re-testing drivers when old timer, Jack Higgs rolled his car while reversing in a Porsche dealership.  Under current law UK drivers need to re-apply for their licenses when they hit 70 but that’s it!  The only physical examination required is to make the minimum eyesight standards.  There is no question of being able bodied and no requirement for drivers to prove their ability. 

This is made all the more worrying when you consider that people that were driving before 1st April 1934 were not compelled to take a test.  Between 18th April 1947 and 1948 there was a one year period when provisional licenses could be converted to a full license without taking a test.  While this will not amount to many people on the roads today it does still mean that there may well be people legally driving on the UK roads that have never taken a test.

As the government battles with UK drivers, using speed cameras and traffic calming measures to try and reduce accidents.  All they manage to do is enrage motoring groups, who view speed cameras on UK roads as government cash machines and disagree with their effectiveness in reducing accidents, and alienate motorists.  Surely a more effective way to improve the safety on UK roads would be to make sure that drivers have the skills necessary to be o the road.  Drivers should take a refresher test every fifteen years in order to keep their license.  This test would need to be designed to reflect the required driving ability of somebody that has been driving for fifteen years.  It would need to address people’s shortcomings and bad habits that they’ve picked up in the years since their tests.  This would help draw attention to issues ad help drivers to either overcome or avoid them.

The Institute of Advanced Motorists recommends driving techniques that revolve around planning for things before they happen.  A good example is taking your foot off the accelerator well before a junction so that you can drive smoothly and easily up to the junction and potentially pullout without stopping.  This style of driving is safer as well as more economical. Driving in this way promotes the driver taking in more sensory information and makes them more aware of what is going on around them, and therefore less likely to drive hazardously.

These techniques are too much for learners to take in as they are learning to master the vehicle, but experienced drivers have already mastered the necessary physical skills, this education would be on the thought processes of driving and how to improve your driving practice.

The Institute of Advanced Motorists Chief Examiner , Peter Rodger, said of the proposals:  “The institute of Advanced Motoring would encourage anyone to have their driving re-assessed."  "Developing and revising driving skills can only be a good thing in an ever more complicated driving environment”, he added.

The new test would be a great way to asses the state of UK drivers abilities and the most effective way to improve their skills on the road.  Surely this would lower accident rates much greater than putting cameras all over the place and criminalising the UK’s motoring population. 

Being a member of the group that would have to take the test immediately I’d welcome the chance to prove that my driving was up to scratch, and if not think that I should be off the road until it is.  The only people that would object would be the people who thought they’d fail and they shouldn’t be on the road anyway…

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