albion1971:
Also night driving and some sort of motorway experience should be incorporated at least in the lessons.
Can all be done already via Pass Plus. Something you do after you pass your basic test to improve.
Trouble is not many think they need to improve. 
From what I’ve been told by various people there is very little incentive to take a pass plus course, apparently it doesn’t reduce insurance that much and the driver has already forked out some serious money to take enough lessons to pass the test. So unless a concerned parent offers to pay most won’t take it.
I know some insurers will offer reductions in insurance premiums if you let them install a data logger into the car which monitors various aspects of driving, and also times of vehicle use.
The driving test is a basic test, and for new drivers is probably has to be, to much information would over load most people. The basics such as clutch and gear control have to become second nature then a driver can move onto more advanced stages of driving.
The problem is there is very little incentive to take any extra training or do any extra tests after you’ve taken your driving test, so most of us will go and spend our lives driving to a very basic standard.
bald bloke:
There’s a trial with certain test centres and certain driving instructors to teach and trial these new ideas and her indoors was one of them and these were the Ideas…
Drive onto opposite side of road park against the kerb and then reverse back two car spaces.
Rule 239 in the Highway Code - do not park against the flow of traffic
Why would they teach you something that is opposite to the Highway Code guidelines.
This trial must have been arranged by dumb and dumber to make the test easier, their fail rate must be though the roof
th2013:
As part of the new test, the independent driving section would be extended to up to 20 minutes, half of the test’s 40.
Learners would be asked to use a satnav system to find their way to a destination, as well as conventional road signs.
The three-point turn, in which learners are asked to stop then turn the car in the opposite direction in the road, as well as the ‘turn around the corner’ where the car has to be reversed around a corner, could be scrapped in favour of testing skills more likely to be used in everyday situations, such as reversing out of a parking bay, or pulling up by the side of the road then rejoining traffic.
Safety questions asked at the outset of the test could now be asked during it, such as being asked to use the back window heaters, said the DVSA.
I think there is a grain of sense behind some of it…and it’s interesting that parts of the truck test like the independant drive and the stop/start are coming into the car tests.
Certainly being able to straight line reverse, and get into and out of bays are things that the current test doesn’t cover.
In reality, no one regularly reverses around a corner in real life (in a car), you find a wide road and swing it around, maybe with a small shunt back. Or you look for a RH turn and turn around there.
The one I’m not sure about is scrapping the 3 point turn, as when the sat nav you are now trained to follow leads you astray, being able to turn around could be handy!
Independent driving has been in the car test since 2010 and stop/start much longer. I think the sat nav is a good idea as let’s face it most people use them and from what I gather they are expected to follow the verbal directions rather than stare at the screen. If I was still teaching I would still teach the left reverse not because they would do it much after passing but because it’s a great way of teaching control of the car while reversing. The others were easy after mastering it.
muckles:
albion1971:
Also night driving and some sort of motorway experience should be incorporated at least in the lessons.
Can all be done already via Pass Plus. Something you do after you pass your basic test to improve.
Trouble is not many think they need to improve.
From what I’ve been told by various people there is very little incentive to take a pass plus course, apparently it doesn’t reduce insurance that much and the driver has already forked out some serious money to take enough lessons to pass the test. So unless a concerned parent offers to pay most won’t take it.
I know some insurers will offer reductions in insurance premiums if you let them install a data logger into the car which monitors various aspects of driving, and also times of vehicle use.
The driving test is a basic test, and for new drivers is probably has to be, to much information would over load most people. The basics such as clutch and gear control have to become second nature then a driver can move onto more advanced stages of driving.
The problem is there is very little incentive to take any extra training or do any extra tests after you’ve taken your driving test, so most of us will go and spend our lives driving to a very basic standard.
You are quite right with what you say. No incentive. The incentive should be to improve your driving but like you say nobody wants to spend money so it should be included in the test but then lessons would be more expensive as would the test. It’s a vicious circle with nobody wanting to spend and driving standards are suffering badly.
Same with the LGV test. A basic test which gets you on the road then you need to start learning. Unfortunately a lot seem to learn the wrong things!
albion1971:
Also night driving and some sort of motorway experience should be incorporated at least in the lessons.
Can all be done already via Pass Plus. Something you do after you pass your basic test to improve.
Trouble is not many think they need to improve.
Motorway driving and night time driving are done on Pass Plus which will also bring their insurance costs down but the take up for it with newly qualified pupils is less than 1 in 10, once they pass they generally think they know it all !!
albion1971:
muckles:
albion1971:
Also night driving and some sort of motorway experience should be incorporated at least in the lessons.
Can all be done already via Pass Plus. Something you do after you pass your basic test to improve.
Trouble is not many think they need to improve.
From what I’ve been told by various people there is very little incentive to take a pass plus course, apparently it doesn’t reduce insurance that much and the driver has already forked out some serious money to take enough lessons to pass the test. So unless a concerned parent offers to pay most won’t take it.
I know some insurers will offer reductions in insurance premiums if you let them install a data logger into the car which monitors various aspects of driving, and also times of vehicle use.
The driving test is a basic test, and for new drivers is probably has to be, to much information would over load most people. The basics such as clutch and gear control have to become second nature then a driver can move onto more advanced stages of driving.
The problem is there is very little incentive to take any extra training or do any extra tests after you’ve taken your driving test, so most of us will go and spend our lives driving to a very basic standard.
You are quite right with what you say. No incentive. The incentive should be to improve your driving but like you say nobody wants to spend money so it should be included in the test but then lessons would be more expensive as would the test. It’s a vicious circle with nobody wanting to spend and driving standards are suffering badly.
Same with the LGV test. A basic test which gets you on the road then you need to start learning. Unfortunately a lot seem to learn the wrong things!
I think we need to look at places like Austria, who’ve cut the death rate for young drivers by 30% with compulsory post test driver training, how much misery would that save for so many families for a another few hundred pounds and a bit of time.
As for HGV training, I thought the DCPC was a lost opportunity, if we have to retrain every 5 years make it something useful, but sadly the courses that included going out for an observed drive were to expensive for most companies and drivers who understandably just wanted to get the DCPC done before the deadline.
the data logger is a good thing as far as it goes . my grandson had one installed and achieved very good results , his premiums went down considerably . he did add when the logger was removed that now he could drive how he liked . it just proved that he could drive sensibly , not that he would always drive sensibly . more like painting the lifeboat while the ship is sinking .
bald bloke:
albion1971:
Also night driving and some sort of motorway experience should be incorporated at least in the lessons.
Can all be done already via Pass Plus. Something you do after you pass your basic test to improve.
Trouble is not many think they need to improve.
Motorway driving and night time driving are done on Pass Plus which will also bring their insurance costs down but the take up for it with newly qualified pupils is less than 1 in 10, once they pass they generally think they know it all !!
Bringing down insurance costs using Pass Plus is nonsense. I’ve just done a check using myself having just passed my car test driving my 1.4 Ford Fiesta with no NCD etc and its still coming out at almost £2K to insure without using a black box.
Radar19:
bald bloke:
albion1971:
Also night driving and some sort of motorway experience should be incorporated at least in the lessons.
Can all be done already via Pass Plus. Something you do after you pass your basic test to improve.
Trouble is not many think they need to improve.
Motorway driving and night time driving are done on Pass Plus which will also bring their insurance costs down but the take up for it with newly qualified pupils is less than 1 in 10, once they pass they generally think they know it all !!
Bringing down insurance costs using Pass Plus is nonsense. I’ve just done a check using myself having just passed my car test driving my 1.4 Ford Fiesta with no NCD etc and its still coming out at almost £2K to insure without using a black box.
Well I’m only passing on what she told me, perhaps some companies recognise it more than other companies but it’s not until the 2nd year you’ll start to break even.
Re the Pass Plus in Wales it costs you all of £20 with the rest funded by govt, and when I took it it definitely helped me. By the time I did it I had already done plenty of motorway driving and night driving, but it really helped to refine and improve what I could already do. But like others have said it only works if you recognise that you need to improve. As far as insurance goes, I rung them up and they said it only made a difference if it was within a year of passing my test. If I was in England, I probably wouldn’t have taken it due to the high cost.
I used to recommend the pass plus mainly to cover what I couldn’t before the test. Particularly motorway and big city. As I taught in North Wales taking someone to Manchester via the motorways was a big culture shock and improved their driving. It’s a shame the insurance companies stopped encouraging it. I did my best to teach night driving though if you only taught someone for a few months may to August it was hard. As far as motorway I took them on the A55 dual carriageway which at least was something if they wouldn’t do any post test training.
I did hear a rumour that they were on about the test being held in English or Welsh doing away with any other language. Which is sense able being that in England all road signs are in English .
Quite why in Yakie Di land they still insist on holding on to both languages on signs I don’t understand. It causes far to much street furniture and the cost must be enormous.
Id like to see em teach new drivers the importance of not undertaking large vehicles on roundabouts, dont get me wrong I usually dont mind or its my fault for opening the door but I hit a car on purpose in my youth and will do so again as its such an easy deliberate accident to get away with.
nick2008:
I did hear a rumour that they were on about the test being held in English or Welsh doing away with any other language. Which is sense able being that in England all road signs are in English .
Quite why in Yakie Di land they still insist on holding on to both languages on signs I don’t understand. It causes far to much street furniture and the cost must be enormous.
Because Welsh still the first language for a large proportion of the population. If they were to get rid of one of the languages it will be English