So im bored at home and got to thinking. Do you think that he general public of ireland and england are inadequately trained when they learn how to drive. The reason im asking this is over here you do your lessons, then test and if you pass your free to drive. Now we all know that learners are not allowed on motorways. So here you have young people freshly passed from there test and they can go onto a motorway with no idea of what its ike… Besides from been a passenger… No believe it or not. In belgium you have to do 14hrs class room training… Then 1week carpark town A/b road motorway and dual carrageways with an instructor… After this month your have 3months to do our test and if not done by then you loose our right to drive alone and then have to be accompained by an adult…or some1 with a full licence. Now me personaly i think its a brilliant idea as you learn everything and then know how to handle situtions like motorway driving etc… So what are your views…
P.s as any1 here who has driven in beligum you woldnt believe this is the case with their shoddy driving haha, but the test is pretty hard.
acceptme:
Now we all know that learners are not allowed on motorways. So here you have young people freshly passed from there test and they can go onto a motorway with no idea of what its ike… Besides from been a passenger…
True, however they are allowed to drive on some duel carrageways, for example the A42. There isn’t really that much difference, its still a road with more than one lane that your allowed to do 70 on, with slip roads and a fast lane. I was actually taken on a duel carrageway on my car test.
There are “Pass Plus” courses newly qualified drivers can take, I took one of these as it dropped my insurance quotes by more than the cost of the course. This involves (along with other things) driving on a motorway with a driving instructor.
I don’t think the test is too easy, I do think the standard of driving starts to slip in many individuals as time passes though.
A separate test for motorway driving may be a good idea or at the very least tests should cover practical motorway driving.
The big problem as I see it is that most people use their vehicles to get from A to B and have no other interest in driving so anything taught whilst learning is likely to be soon forgotten.
I would like to see more educational advertising on driving matters instead of just the usual scare tactic adverts we see from time to time, the government are happy to spend our money on high profile issues like drink driving but when was the last time you saw an advert showing the correct way to enter or leave a motorway, or how to handle busy junctions, when was the last time you saw an advert suggest to people that driving is about interacting with other motorists and not just about who has right of way.
My idea would be that drivers convicted of some offences or multiple offences should be required to take and pass a test within, say, six months, or they lose it. At their own expense of course.
Magistrates could be given this option instead of heavy fines which affect the poorer people much more than the rich.
Although everyone’s always happy around here to agree that the standards of driving are falling, there doesn’t really seem to be much hard evidence. The number of people killed/injured goes down and down and down, and was the lowest ever (i.e. since 1926) last year. Of course, that’s partly (perhaps mainly) because cars are much safer, but it doesn’t seem that there’s really an epidemic of terrible driving, however wound-up you were yesterday by some idiot on the M-whatever.
People drive much more than they used to, and people who have driven a lot tend to be better drivers than people who haven’t. Driving tests have got more and more elaborate - I seriously doubt that the average freshly-trained driver is a worse driver now than they were 25 years ago.
This country (and continent) is completely and utterly, totally, comprehensively bankrupt, and one of the reasons for that is that every time anything happens that people don’t like, they think that solution is yet more government meddling and more bureaucracy. Even if there’s only one aspect of life that doesn’t need yet more regulation, it’s road transport.
Pass Plus does not now mean lower insurance premiuims because insurers realised that it make little or no difference
Some insurers will discount for having passed an advanced test but they are few - they also tend to be those with higher quotes to start with!!
What we need is Govt legislation which introduces safe driving assessments for newly qualified drivers so that they can demonstrate they can still drive safely and older drivers so they can demonstrate that they are still physically capable but this will be a vote loser!!
Re-testing is not the answer as the current DSA test is designed for a learner and not for a driver who may not drive to the DSA style but has developed their own safe style
Learner drivers will be allowed onto motorways during lessons with a qualified driving instructor under plans announced by Road Safety Minister Mike Penning MP.
MSN Cars guide: learning to drive
At an event attended by MSN Cars yesterday, the Minister revealed the plans, which are to come into force from next year.
It will allow fully qualified driving instructors to take students onto the motorway during lessons before the learner has passed their test. Under current law, drivers are only allowed onto motorways after they have passed their test.
The Minister said the new arrangement will fix an anomaly in current legislation: an inexperienced driver can take to the motorway straight after passing their test, despite having received no training in high-speed driving.
Driving instructors will not be obliged to take pupils onto motorways, he said, but will be able to do so where relevant. It is not being made a prescribed part of the test because some areas of the UK, such as large parts of Scotland, do not have a motorway in close vicinity.
The Institute of Advanced Motorists welcomed the announcement by the Minister. IAM chief executive Simon Best said: “This change will mean that properly supervised young drivers can learn how to drive on a motorway with somebody beside them. Motorways are, after all, our safest roads.”
Best also called for more developments for the driving test, after the Minister announced it is currently under review, to see if it is “fit for purpose”.
“As part of the changes to the test, we would also like to see more training for learners on rural roads — our most dangerous roads.”
The Minister also announced that the practice of unqualified driving instructors being able to teach learner drivers has also been outlawed, while the Pass Plus system of post-test tuition is also up for review.
Research shows the current Pass Plus system results in a drop in accident rate of around 1%. “That’s not good enough,” said the Minister.
“Am I dumping pass Plus today? Probably. We’ve just got to get the (advanced driving safety) programmes out there.”
acceptme:
Now we all know that learners are not allowed on motorways. So here you have young people freshly passed from there test and they can go onto a motorway with no idea of what its ike… Besides from been a passenger…
I spent as much time driving on this road as any other as a learner driver and the only difference is that on here you can be sharing the road with cyclists at 80 mph.
carryfast. i think thats what they need more… you have more or else learned on a road which is just like a motorway… the reason i started this was cause i live in an area where learners learn to drive and some of the skills are not worth thinking about… ok some of them are brand new but since iv not been working you tend to notice same cars faces… i really feel like there should be more training given… look at us for example… people on here been driving 30+ yrs but still have to get this cpc thing… and no im not sayin that car drivers should do it like lorry drivers do but things you learn in the intial process will stick n keep…
Haha! I’m quite fond of Belgium but I really can’t believe what you’re telling me about the driver training out there. I always say my prayers before I cross the border into Belgium!
acceptme:
So im bored at home and got to thinking. Do you think that he general public of ireland and england are inadequately trained when they learn how to drive
what as opposed to those in scotland and wales?
acceptme:
The reason im asking this is over here you do your lessons, then test and if you pass your free to drive. Now we all know that learners are not allowed on motorways. So here you have young people freshly passed from there test and they can go onto a motorway with no idea of what its ike… Besides from been a passenger… No believe it or not. In belgium you have to do 14hrs class room training… Then 1week carpark town A/b road motorway and dual carrageways with an instructor… After this month your have 3months to do our test and if not done by then you loose our right to drive alone and then have to be accompained by an adult…or some1 with a full licence. Now me personaly i think its a brilliant idea as you learn everything and then know how to handle situtions like motorway driving etc… So what are your views…
P.s as any1 here who has driven in beligum you woldnt believe this is the case with their shoddy driving haha, but the test is pretty hard.
the belgians are probably the worst drivers in europe in my experience, especially those with 5 digit number plates
if the belgians were so skilled they’d be ok with trucks being allowed to overtake but the whole country is a “no overtakinbg ban” especially when it rains because the car drivers have no idea how to cope with trucks
welshboyinspain:
the belgians are probably the worst drivers in europe in my experience, especially those with 5 digit number plates :
I would easily rank the Italians alongside if not in front of the Belgians, I have no idea why the eyties have traffic lights or lines on motorways because no bugger adheres to either!
