52% support Highway Code retest every 10 years

[ebikeerwidnes]

My eldest did a speed awareness course. Perhaps an occupational hazard for an X5M owner.

Anyway, she tells me it was full of people arguing that it was unfair, 38 jn a 30 zone was OK at whatever time of day they happened caught at, it was a war on the motorists, blah blah blah.

She admits she was bang to rights and realised arguing would achieve nothing other than to prolong the agony, so he pinned back here ears, nodded sagely when required, and sat there quietly.

At the break the trainer approached her and told her that if she didnt engage he would have to mark he down as a non-attendance, forcing her to pretend to be angry and indignant. What was the point of that?

But I do like the idea of a one say course. 20 delegates at a time, one jn every town, self funding, its financially and logistically a more achievable proposition than a re test.

I have been on 2 - one was erased from the records when they discovered it was illegal

but anyway
the people running it started with the same thing
You have to take part - i.e. contribute
so we will start with a voluntary round the table where you say what THEY SAY you were doing and where it was
no criticism - just the facts
if you say that then you have contributed and i can write that down

After that the day will go faster if you make comments - but if you want to sit there quietly that is fine by me as long as I have something to justify saying you have taken part

everyone said what they had been done for and no complaining

I actually thought it was done very well and any moaning was headed off
they basically said they were there to say why the rules are what they are and not to justify them

 

[gavroche]

I don't think a test is the right way to do it. I would favour an assessment by an ADI so he/she can pinpoint the bad habits and correct them.
It should also include a refresment of the Highway code as most people never bother after passing their test.

 

[Dadam]

I did a course last summer, the first time I've been done for speeding ever; though I've been stopped by police a couple of times in my boy racer days many years ago. I was bang to rights. I even calculated my speed from the evidence photos and the lines on the road and my calc was within 0.5 mph of what they said. OK fair enough.

I found it pretty useful and has had an effect on me, but the instructor was nowhere near as strict as some by the sound of it. He said as long as you stay to the end you can't fail the course. One guy on my table was really not happy, moaning all the time but usually under his breath. At the end you had to fill in a sheet with your plan of what you intended to do differently. He just wrote bored bored BORED all over it! He passed the course too!

 

[Hicky]

Having to complete a matrix test(basically the same) for the army every 12 months shown how little we all knew irrespective of our obvious abilities 🫣
I’d be in favour if it was implemented properly….which bit wouldn’t be.

 

[markemark]

Of course far easier would be banning all dodgy npr dodging number plates and scrapping the 12 points. Every fine is 3 months ban. Get it 4 times and permanent ban.

 

[Alex321]

Of course far easier would be banning all dodgy npr dodging number plates and scrapping the 12 points. Every fine is 3 months ban. Get it 4 times and permanent ban.

For "far easier" read "utterly impossible".

It may be simpler, but simler doesn't mean the same as easier, and there is no chance any party proposing that could get elected, or survive the next election if they brought it in without having it in their mandate.

The first part (banning the dodgy number plates) is already present in law, it is enforcing it that is the issue.

 

[Drago]

The first part (banning the dodgy number plates) is already present in law..

That's not exactly correct. The law didn't anticipate a lot of the "dodgy" numb plate styles and has been re-drafted about 20 years back to ban some of them, and is about to be re-drafted again.

 

[slowmotion]

The current waiting time for a practical driving test is 22 weeks in England. If people are to have tests five times more frequently during their motoring life than they currently do, what do you think the revised waiting time would be?

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

The current waiting time for a practical driving test is 22 weeks in England. If people are to have tests five times more frequently during their motoring life than they currently do, what do you think the revised waiting time would be?

About the same
but only if they spend a LOT of money setting the system up to be able to do it

AND - no politician is going to get elected - or stay in office - if they do that AND force every driver to pay what it costs

 

[SteveH80]

start with a voluntary round the table where you say what THEY SAY you were doing and

My act of evil criminality was before speed awareness courses.
I was only too happy with the police's "THEY SAY" of 86mph, the reality may have been a little more...
A fine and 3 points was my bargain of the decade

 

[Bristolian]

I appreciate it's just a headline but regular mandatory eye-tests and giving plod enough resources to enforce the existing rules would be a better way to improve road safety.

The report itself is huge. It would take a particular mindset to complete the survey so the results might not be representative of the wider public. It's bit a like asking the Bambi appreciation society if deer should be culled

Emphasis is mine.

As someone of a particular mindset I took part in (and completed) this survey. I am also a member of the IAMRoadsmart Opinion Panel and complete surveys for them fairly regularly throughout the year. In my opinion (see what I did there?) the number of respondents is far too small to make an accurate determination on how representative it is. If a significant percentage of respondents are IAMRoadsmart members then it might well skew results to reflect the charity's viewpoints.

 

[Bristolian]

Was this survey based on a financial study that looked at the current backlog in testing and how many new test centres would be needed, how many people would need to be employed
and how much each test would cost the driver?

If you changed the question to include a cost to the driver of say £30 then I suspect that the answer would change

I would support something like an update being sent out every year with the "road tax" renewal
but they probably want that to go onto email soon and an attachment of email would seldom even be opened - paper inserts have more of a chance

There was no mention of finance in the survey or any question about how it would be achieved. The whole survey, along with the spread of answers is available for download.

I agree, if you changed the question in the way you say the result may well change, but then again maybe not if enough rich people respond to the survey.

Tax renewal is already an email event. I received my reminder last week and taxed the car online in about five minutes. Simples! I'm not sure that an email attachment would get less attention that a paper insert with a letter. In my case blurb that comes by post usually goes in the bin unread - even stuff from IAMRoadsmart

 

[Bristolian]

I don't think a test is the right way to do it. I would favour an assessment by an ADI so he/she can pinpoint the bad habits and correct them.
It should also include a refresment of the Highway code as most people never bother after passing their test.

I think this is a good alternative but rather than take ADI's away from their primary task of getting learners through the test (note I didn't say teaching them how to drive) there is an army of qualified (by DVSA) advanced driving observers - both RoSPA and IAMRoadsmart - out there willing to undertake this task ... and we're cheaper than an ADI.

 

[Drago]

We used to run experience days for various demographics, new driverw, the retired, etc. Being a small farde there werent enough of us class 1 pilots to do it ourselves so RoSPA and IAM would send some down as observers.

From what I've seen I wouldn't want any IAM, aside from the peerless Mr Bristolian, anywhere near such a thing.

Trying to wrack my brains for the IAM jockey doing a demonstration drive on our manor who ran into the rear of a slow moving hedge trimming tractor on a local B road - over a crest, left wasn't best that time! Would have been the late 90s.