Category - ADI

Woman Fails Theory Test 90 Times!

17/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI, Driving Tests, DSA, World

According to DSA Freedom of Information data, somewhere out there – in Southwark, actually - is a 26 year old woman who failed her theory test 90 times (it doesn’t say if she’s passed it yet, but she failed that 90th attempt in November 2010).

The theory test costs £31, so she has spent £2,790 just trying to pass her theory!

You’d think she might have got the message by now that Nature was trying to tell her something, wouldn’t you?

The same would apply to a 39 year old man from around Stoke on Trent. He failed his practical test for the 36th time several months ago. So he has spent well over £2,000 just on tests. Even if he managed to get a re-test every 10 days, he’d have taken a whole year to do this many, and even with only one 2 hour lesson between tests he would have spent an additional £1,500 on top of the £1,000 (at least) he would have spent learning at the start.

Nature needs to start shouting a bit louder.

Seriously, though. If someone repeatedly fails the test like this – does it mean they are acceptable if they eventually pass?

EDIT 17/3/2011: Incidentally, this story has gone global – the newsfeeds are supplying hits from all countries. I wonder if they’ll track the woman down?

Yet Another Statement of the Blindingly Obvious

17/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI

The newsfeed just threw this one up. “Threw up” is an appropriate term, I think, seeing as it is a combined insurance plug and publicity stunt.

Only an hour or so ago I mentioned that the driving test has never been designed to turn out perfect drivers with built-in lifetime driving experience. It has always been intended to decide whether people are safe enough to go out and continue learning through their own experiences.

IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists) – the driving equivalent of the Bowls Club Committee or the England Cricket Team Selectors – is spending a lot of it’s time stating the blindingly obvious, these days.

Peter Rodger, chief driving examiner at the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM)… said people should consider their actions once the L-plates come off and work to keep learning “to help themselves improve further”.

He pointed out that those getting behind the wheel should look at the skill as “professional development and not assume that once they have passed the driving test that is all they need to do for the rest of their lives”.

You can hear the collective sound of 55 million British citizens slapping their foreheads and going “ooooh, I never thought of that”. Or not, as the case may be.

The driving test has always been a stepping stone to further improvement. By definition, driving on your own leads to increased experience.

The last thing the average Neanderthal needs is advice on how to go round corners fast on the wrong side of the road, straightline roundabouts (which he can already do), or be told everything he vaguely remembers from his test is wrong anyway.

Co-op Insurance Black Box Scheme Launched

17/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI

The Co-op has launched an insurance scheme whereby young drivers can benefit from lower premiums if they drive safely. The policy will be on average £328 cheaper than competing prices and around 80% of young drivers could benefit.

How it works is that the driver’s car has a smartbox fitted. The box transmits data about braking and acceleration, speed, cornering, and time of driving (day or night), and every 90 days this is evaluated. If they have been driving responsibly they will get up to 11% discount of the annual premium.

If they drive consistently badly then they could end up paying up to 15% more of their annual premium. It isn’t clear if this applies every 90 days or just annually.

It sounds like a great idea. So good, in fact, that it could be a way of reducing road deaths if the government had the guts to make it mandatory.

Find out more at the Co-op Insurance site here.

Driving Age to Rise to 18 in Northern Ireland?

16/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI, World

The Belfast Telegraph reckons the minimum driving age could rise to 18 under proposals…

…to cut the carnage on Northern Ireland’s roads.

The proposals would also see restrictions on high performance cars, curfews, and a minimum number of lessons before being able to take the test.

Apparently, 17-24 year olds make up 15% of the driving population and yet they account for 38% of all fatal collisions. Those numbers got me thinking about the American problem I reported recently. The Americans allow driving from as young as 14, and their statistics report that “teens” account for 7% of the driving population, but 20% of all driving deaths.

How do the two compare?

Let’s imagine we have 100,000 drivers and 10,000 fatalities in some time period.

The NI figures mean that 15,000 17-24 year olds would be responsible for 3,800 deaths. That works out to 0.25 deaths per 17-24 year old.

The American figures mean that 7,000 “teens” would be responsible for 2,000 deaths. And that works out to 0.28 deaths per “teen”.

It’s not that different, is it? And I bet the UK mainland isn’t much different, either.

So is raising the driving age the answer? Is extra lessons the answer? I’m not so sure. Everything points to it being the same in every civilised country.

Irish Driving Tests to be Outsourced?

16/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI

The Irish Times reports that the permanent outsourcing of driving tests to private companies is being looked into. A report is due later this month from the consultants who did the study.

The review was driven by spending cuts.

From what my Irish pupils have told me, Ireland has only recently brought its learner driver system to within a couple of centuries of the one we’re in now. If outsourcing were to be driven by a desire to bring Irish standrds into the 21st Century, then all well and good.

But when it is only for financial gain? Perhaps not.

Parents Pass Road Rage to Kids: Update

16/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI

I wrote recently about an AA survey, and how the media had twisted it. The media seemed to be suggesting that the survey revealed parents pass on road rage to their children. That’s the only thing it was suggesting.

Here’s the proof that the media was talking utter crap.

It turns out the AA survey was of its driving instructors. “Poor use of mirrors” was the most common problem cited. This was followed by “speeding”, “failing to check blind spots”, and “not feeding the wheel when turning”.

Other bad habits include braking too hard or too late, driving too close to the vehicle in front, letting the wheel slip through their hands, using only one hand on the wheel, getting annoyed with other drivers, and coasting in neutral.

See that part in bold? An entire news story was made up from that. The survey summary simply said parents pass on bad habits – like we didn’t know that in the first place.

As I said, it has to be the biggest non-story of all time.

Uninsured Drivers Add £30 to Premiums

16/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI

This article on myfinances.co.uk says that uninsured driving adds £30 per year to every car insurance policy.

IQ TestThe research was done by moneysupermarket.com (so it’s more of a survey than “research”). Apparently, 17% of motorists has driven a car they aren’t insured to drive. 7% say they’ve driven their own car uninsured, and another 7% said they’ve driven someone else’s uninsured.

A quarter of these reckoned they didn’t know it was illegal.

A third reckoned they did it because they were “between policies”.

Thinking of that last topic I posted, I’m reminded of that American spoof story which claimed that an IQ test was going to be required to get a driver’s licence.

If we introduced one here, we’d take at least 4.5 million cars off the roads.

It makes you think, doesn’t it?

Young Driver Casualty Rate Needs Tackling?

16/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI, Driving Tests

This story from the TRL News Hub says that the “appalling” casualty rate of young drivers needs tackling… according to MPs.

Yes, it does. But if MPs were even close to living on this planet, they would realise that it isn’t the driving test that will achieve any reduction.

A recent report from the Transport Select Committee proposed making the current driving test more rigorous in an effort to reduce accident rates, claiming that it is “essential” young drivers are thoroughly prepared before getting behind the wheel of a vehicle alone.

When will people realise that it isn’t driving skill per se that is the problem?

Buzz LightyearThe driving test has always been intended to make sure people are capable of going out on the road as new drivers, and then continuing to learn through experience gained over their subsequent driving lifetime. It has never been intended to put perfect drivers with a lifetime of experience out there.

Because it can’t. Ever,

The real problem lies in the fact that your average 21st Century 17-24 year old male thinks he is Buzz Lightyear, and your average 21st Century 17-24 year old female is more than happy to be posting her life story on Facebook or Twitter while she is driving her kids around. It didn’t used to be like this, but it is like it now. And it is the gradual change from the former to the latter (current) situation which is the real explanation for why so many of them kill themselves or others.

The TRL story also contains some more realistic recommendations from Brake, the road safety charity:

[Brake]… suggested implementing a system of ‘graduated driver licensing’, where there is a set learning period, followed by time spent as a novice driver where exposure to high risk is limited.

This gives people the chance to build up their skills and experience on the road before they obtain their full licence, the charity explained.

Exactly. If the idiots can’t behave, then they either need to be made to behave – or prevented from misbehaving.

But even then, the focus of the Brake proposal is still on giving them the skills to behave like idiots without killing themselves rather than stopping them from behaving like idiots in the first place.

If you needed proof of all this, take a look at this BBC story. It reports on a delinquent named Philip Truong, who was apparently racing his car with another and effectively caused the death of two  teenagers in the process (though one of them, the driver of the other car, deserves little sympathy) when the other car lost control. He was speeding, yet he has been cleared of the more serious charge of causing death by dangerous driving. Truong admitted he was “showing off” and his own defence lawyer said he was “immature”. He is 22, for God’s sake.

He may or may not go to jail.

And that’s the deterrent to behaving like idiots. There really almost isn’t one.

Another Flash of the Blindingly Obvious

14/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI, World

This article in The Journal (Ireland) has to take pole position in the race to find a statement of the blindingly obvious.

Eating and drinking while driving a ‘major distraction’

No, really? But when you then look at the next part:

[the spokesman] said he didn’t expect people to do away with their morning coffee on the drive to work, but urged drivers to be careful and act sensibly, in particular with hot beverages.

You certainly shouldn’t be fumbling with the cup while you are on the move. A simple incident like the lid coming off and coffee spilling could become disastrous.

Other distracting behaviour admitted to by some of the 22,000 people surveyed included reading while driving (14.6 per cent), brushing hair (7.5 per cent) and changing clothes (3.4 per cent).

Nearly a quarter of the women that took part admitted to applying makeup while driving while 4 per cent of men said they sometimes used an electric shaver on the go.

They like to take it to the limit in Ireland, don’t they?

Driving Age Up… or Down?

14/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI, World

There’s talk again of raising the driving age in the UK in an attempt to stop immature morons killing themselves. I guess the hope is that an extra year or two means that they will grow up and behave at least a little like adults (the majority of teenage boys don’t become mentally mature until at least another 10 years after their teens).

But spare a thought for the Americans. Over there, you’re eligible to drive from the moment you can breath until the moment when you can’t anymore.

Seriously, though, the Americans are having a major burn on the issue of teen road deaths and distracted driving. So it is strange that this article should appear in the Maryville Daily Forum.

The author boasts that her granddaughter (I think) was being taught to drive by her friend – she didn’t want anyone else to teach her: just her best friend.

Carla had a friend over. She wanted the friend to teach her to drive. (Why they just didn’t play with dolls, I’ll never know!)

The only vehicle available that afternoon happened to be Dad’s pick-up. Said pickup had a standard transmission — AKA stick shift.

I wasn’t about to have anything to do with this driving lesson. Oh, I could have taught my sister to drive; however, I valued my life and these young teenage girls didn’t have Dad’s permission to conduct the lesson, much less drive his prize pick-up.

So, I hid out in the living room. I don’t know what I was doing, but I should have turned the music up louder or hid out in a more sound-proof location. It wasn’t long before I heard “Bam, Bam, Bam,” coming from the driveway. What in the world?

Reluctantly, I went to the east window of the living room. There I saw Dad’s pickup banging into the garage door over and over. Inside the cab of said truck I noticed two teenage girls giggling for all they were worth.

I just went back to the living room, turned up the TV and hid out a little longer.

I don’t think it was necessary for Carla to learn to drive a stick shift anyway. Evidently not because I don’t think she ever learned.

Frighteningly, that teenager could have been allowed out on the road. Is it any wonder the USA has a problem if this kind of thing is going on? It isn’t funny. Tragic, maybe. Worrying, to be sure. But definitely not funny.

Then there is this story about how to choose an instructor. Remember that in some States you can drive at 14. The majority are 15, and a few 16.

Car crashes kill more teens than cancer, homicide and suicide combined, which is why choosing a good driving school could quite literally be a life or death decision. In fact, the Automobile Association of America (AAA) reports that although teens represent only 7% of the licensed population, they are involved in almost 20% of all fatal accidents. Scary stuff.

Yes. Very scary. Scary that 7% of the population is responsible for 20% of all fatal accidents. In fact, the word is “terrifying”, not just scary. It’s an unbelievable statistic.

If they want to reduce deaths amongst teens, then raise the age limit to one which corresponds to being out of nappies.