Last chance driving school

eternal_headwind

Last night I saw part of a programme broadcast on ITV1 titled 'Last chance driving school'.

The premise was this. People who had repeatedly failed their driving tests with the sort of road sense my two year old daughter would be ashamed of were encouraged to enter an intense driving course and then go for another test.

I say I only saw part of the programme because I normally avoid this sort of TV, but I watched some to verify what the content was. These people were made to think of a driving license as if they were subhuman without it.

I then thought that perhaps this gives us an avenue for complaint. In an era when the government is continually and ineffectually harping on about it's committment to road safety, ITV1 is determined to release a group of fundamentally unteachables into the wild.
I find it unpleasant when the programme makers gave the impression at the end that a failed test was a failed human being.

I apologise if this sounds a bit like a rant, but here are the serious questions

Should we have a limit to the number of times a test can be taken? Ten fails and you get a free bus pass? Should retests count?

spen666

Eternal_headwind wrote:

Last night I saw part of a programme broadcast on ITV1 titled 'Last chance driving school'.

The premise was this. People who had repeatedly failed their driving tests with the sort of road sense my two year old daughter would be ashamed of were encouraged to enter an intense driving course and then go for another test.

I say I only saw part of the programme because I normally avoid this sort of TV, but I watched some to verify what the content was. These people were made to think of a driving license as if they were subhuman without it.

I then thought that perhaps this gives us an avenue for complaint. In an era when the government is continually and ineffectually harping on about it's committment to road safety, ITV1 is determined to release a group of fundamentally unteachables into the wild.
I find it unpleasant when the programme makers gave the impression at the end that a failed test was a failed human being.

I apologise if this sounds a bit like a rant, but here are the serious questions

Should we have a limit to the number of times a test can be taken? Ten fails and you get a free bus pass? Should retests count?

Should they count for what?

If they don't count- then how does one reach your ten failed tests? Everyone will only take one test- after that surely its a re-test

eternal_headwind

Nicely spotted, I should have used clearer language. If we were to use a 10 failed test system, and a person passes on their 10th attempt, then gets disqualified and a judge orders a re test, are they permanently excluded from driving because they have used up their allocation of tests?

spen666

Eternal_headwind wrote:

Nicely spotted, I should have used clearer language. If we were to use a 10 failed test system, and a person passes on their 10th attempt, then gets disqualified and a judge orders a re test, are they permanently excluded from driving because they have used up their allocation of tests?

Re tests are only ordered for dangerous driving and related offences- for most offences there is no retest to get licence back after a ban

eternal_headwind

yes. The question still stands, although admittedly it is a minor side point compared to the whole fixed test number idea.

Tom Butcher

Interesting - my mum passed on her 5th (OK still some way short of 10) but it was late afternoon on CHristmas Eve at the time - which makes me suspect there may have been an element of generosity there. On the other hand she has never had an accident in 45 years driving because she is very cautious. It'd be interesting to see whether how long it takes to pass your test correlates with accident record or whether very confident drivers who perhaps are more likely to pass first time are the ones that go on to be the aggressive types who cause me most aggro when I'm out on the bike.

spen666

Eternal_headwind wrote:

yes. The question still stands, although admittedly it is a minor side point compared to the whole fixed test number idea.

Actually, I think it is a far more important point than afixed number of tests/ retests.

Should we require EVERYONE who gets a driving ban to pass a new test BEFORE they can have their licence back?

eternal_headwind

ok spen666, phrased in your form it is now a much better question. It can't seem to find and answer to tom's question online. does anyone have any ideas?

gavintc

I was involved in military driver training. As we were funding the training, we set a limit on the number of tests based upon the expectation to pass. We identified that after 5 tests, the law of diminishing returns applied and at this point the soldier was deemed a ' pedestrian'.

Jon G

spen666 wrote:

Should we require EVERYONE who gets a driving ban to pass a new test BEFORE they can have their licence back?

This would be very easy to do as under existing legislation any driver conviced of any endorsable offence, let alone one leading to a ban, can at the magistrates' or judge's discretion be ordered to take a driving test. The law is already there; it would just need a change in either the sentencing guidelines or in the willingness of courts to act on their own initiative. I'd certainly like to see courts making far more use of this power.

Jon

grayo59

How about something similar to a m/cycle test.

If you don't pass within two years of getting your provisional then you have to wait a year before getting another provisional (which gives you another two years.)

When you pass you are restricted to say 1300cc/70bhp for a year and it is mandatory to diplay the green P plate.

Aaaah, when I am King ....

bryanm

I took 7 attempts to pass my driving test. That said, one 1 test the car broke down, on another I was in a car that I'd never driven prior to the test because the instructers normal car had broken down, again....

Only had one crash, I was stationary and a car went into the back of me and pushed me under a stationary lorry in front of me. But I've always cycled and always give cyclists a wide berth.

Motorcyclists however... Don't get me started.... :evil: