There does not seem to be a day go by lately that there is not a truck driver either killed or seriously injured at work whilst driving. More of these RTC’s appear to involve more than one truck, todays RTC on the A5 involving two trucks in which a fellow truck driver was killed, just adds to the statistics. Now I know nothing has been proven yet whether any of the drivers where at fault, but this has got me thinking should we as professional drivers have to re take our LGV test every 5 years, just like we have to have a medical after 45 and now the DCPC ? If this re take of your LGV licence was funded by the Goverment either by taxing the insurance companies ( who will in the end save money if less RTC’s occur ) or from our road fund licence, would you be up for it ? If you failed it wouldnt mean you loose your licence there and then, but maybe have to have refresher lessons for a period of time say 6 months, then take the test again, if you fail again then yes its the end of your driving until you can pass the test. The general public would then know that we are stringently tested and that we are the best drivers on the road.
Thoughts, input and suggestions welcome, but please lets not start a mass slanging match.
The driver that died on the A47 two weeks ago had a heart condition and at his age he would have been having medicals to renew his licence, this didn’t prevent an accident.
We are all legally qualified to drive our vehicles and no amount of retests will change the way we drive. Accidents happen for many reasons and poor driving habits isn’t always the cause.
Why not insist that ALL drivers retake their tests, everyone driving on our roads shares the responsibility to drive in an appropriate manner.
i think the government should spend as much money educating average joes on what a HGV can and cant do rather than waste it on educating us about leather clad helemt wearers who race about at 100+mph on 2 wheels
I think if we have to re-test so should everyone no matter what you are driving.
Unfortunately there seems to be alot of truck drivers dying recently, or have there always been as many killed but it as not been reported in the news like it is nowadays.
I think because nowadays they shut the road for hours on end when there is a serious RTA, its on the news, where as in the past i can remember the roads not being closed for half the time, so it wasn’t publicised as much.
The driving test is in no way relevant to driving in the real world, no more so than the car test is. Beyond the basics, driving only comes with experience and common sense. Sadly the latter is often absent but you can not legislate or regulate common sense unfortunetely, wether a licence is for life or has to be retaken ever 2 weeks.
I have posted comments before about DCPC and how it doesn’t look at a driver’s driving skills and attitude towards safe driving. whilst I think that re-testing all professional drivers would not change things anymore than a once every 4 years driving assessment with a DSA approved driving instructor would make drivers think more about improving the standard of their driving skills and knowledge.
Many large concerns have annual LGV safe driving assessments and many firms do an assessment drive before starting a new driver so perhaps drivers do more assessments than is realised
You could have all drivers take a driving test every year, but it wouldn’t have any real impact of the number of RTC’s as they now call the RTA
As said already it once the test is passed you learn to drive,& not many drivers continue to drive as they did to pass the DSA test,
The DSA which incidentally is a business just like any other, and they need to generate revenue,the driving test is not just about safety
No once you have got the vocational qualification it should not be revoked unless you are convicted of an offence that carries a disqual tariff I personally feel it’s already bad enough that drivers have to shell out for medical exams every 5 yrs after the age of 45, and pay again for this new load of swollox they call the DCPC without another government cash cow
As for the DCPC this should be paid for by the employer, they could claim the cost back from the taxman the smaller companies could group together and obtain a good discount from providers or one company could train someone to teach the DCPC in house and supply that service to others in the local area
I would have said yes if everyone to retake test every 5 years Why only lgv drivers , We are more skilled than most overs on the road, Crashes involving lorries are only newsworthy as we make more mess when we crash .
robinhood_1984:
The driving test is in no way relevant to driving in the real world, no more so than the car test is. Beyond the basics, driving only comes with experience and common sense. Sadly the latter is often absent but you can not legislate or regulate common sense
