This site is a chance for stakeholders to comment on what Parliamentarians have to say on a transport safety issue

Feb 02

When We Were Very Young


Posted: under General, Parliament.
Tags: , ,

Viscount Simon

Viscount Simon

 

 

 

 

 

Viscount Simon is President of the Driving Instructors Association and GEM Motoring Assist, as well as being a Vice Chairman of PACTS. He is one of the ninety hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords and sits for the Labour Party.

 

 I passed my driving test in my teens. I was a fantastic driver; I loved my car until I crashed it and ended up in hospital. Then I started to learn how to drive. 
Just because you have a driving license does not necessarily mean you know how to drive properly. Once you have built up experience over the years you will then know what it means to be able to drive.
 
Sitting next to a driving instructor, be it, a professional or a parent you have support in the car but once out on the open road by yourself you are the only person you can rely on to read the road
 

The age group 16-29 are responsible, within their first two years of motoring, for 42% of fatalities on our roads.  We shouldn’t blame them for their inadequacy. How can the system help them to be better?

 

The testing process in this county needs to be reformed, one which tests that learners can drive safely, not just master how to control a car and there is also a need to help drivers develop and maintain high standards for life, especially if they drive for work.. Learning has always taken place before long term retention by being able to read and research a topic with assistance from qualified individuals.  The publishing of a question bank does not encourage long term retention and should, therefore, be abandoned so that candidates who wish to learn to drive study the whole syllabus and work through a series of workbooks to understand and gain long term knowledge for safer driving. 

 

I wonder if the DSA should channel their efforts towards the assessment of driving ability and let qualified instructors certify the manoeuvres prior to a driving test thereby allowing more time on the driving test for examiners to assess driving ability.

 

Despite the fall in the number of road deaths most recently published we cannot be complacent because further reductions are possible and, indeed, preferable.  Better learning must be part of that process of further reduction.

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

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