Category - DSA

An email alert from the DSA:

Better enforcement and education to cut road deaths

Plans to improve road safety education while taking tough action against the small minority of dangerous drivers were set out by Transport Secretary Philip Hammond today.

Careless driving will be made a fixed penalty offence to allow the police more effectively to tackle reckless driving that puts other road users in danger, while disqualified drivers face having to take a new test before regaining their licence.

There will also be more educational courses that can be offered in place of a fixed penalty and points in appropriate cases as well as a new post-test qualification for novice drivers, under plans set out in the new Strategic Framework for Road Safety.

And as new analysis shows, 3,500 deaths and serious injuries could have been prevented in a year if the successes of better local authorities and police forces had been matched across the country. Local people will be given the information they need to have a real say in road safety priorities on their local roads.

Philip Hammond said:

“This report marks a sea change in how we tackle road safety in this country. We are determined to differentiate between wilfully reckless drivers and the law abiding majority who sometimes make honest mistakes, or who have allowed their skills to deteriorate.

“We will focus relentlessly on cracking down on the really reckless few who are responsible for a disproportionately large number of accidents and deaths on our roads. By allowing the police to focus resources on dealing with these drivers, we can make our roads even safer.

“Our vision is to ensure Britain remains a world leader on road safety. We will only do this is if we bring people with us. This means cracking down on the most dangerous drivers without waging war on the law abiding majority.

The new Strategic Framework for Road Safety sets out the government’s plans to:

• Make careless driving a fixed penalty offence to allow the police more effectively to tackle the wilfully reckless driving that puts other road users in danger. Guidance will ensure that that the circumstances in which a fixed penalty notice is appropriate are clearly defined.
• Require offenders to pass a test before they regain their licence after a serious disqualification.
• Make greater use of powers to seize vehicles to keep the most dangerous drivers off the roads.
• Increase the level of fixed penalty notices for traffic offences from £60 to between £80 and £100 and penalty points. Levels have fallen behind those for other fixed penalty offences, which risks trivialising the offences.
• Improve enforcement against drink and drug driving, as announced in the response to the North Report in March. Increase the use of police-approved educational courses that can be offered in place of fixed penalty notices to encourage safer driving behaviour.
• Launch a new post-test qualification for new drivers, including an assessment process to give insurers confidence that it will create safer drivers who can expect to pay lower insurance costs. This will replace the current Pass Plus scheme.
• Continue to improve the driving and motorcycling training processes, including introducing film clips into theory test.
• Create a new website to allow local people to easily compare the road safety performance of their local area against similar areas, as well as a new portal to help road safety professionals share information. The framework published today also includes maps which show the recent road safety records and improvements of local authorities.
• Launch an annual road safety day.

The framework also sets out the roles and responsibilities of local authorities, road safety professionals and other stakeholders in improving road safety and the increased freedom that is being given to local authorities in assessing and acting on their own priorities.

The government’s long term vision is to ensure that Britain remains a world leader on road safety and the department will monitor its performance against indicators in a new road safety outcomes framework.
 

This is that earlier story about “on the spot fines” straight from the horse’s mouth. As I said, it isn’t just about fines – it is about much more than that.

This next comment might upset a few people, but frankly the broader issue of road deaths doesn’t bother me. Not road deaths among the little prats who end up killing themselves, anyway – it’s good for society that they’ve been removed from the gene pool. What does concern me, though, is the ones who put MY life in danger and get away with it. That’s why I welcome anything that takes their pratmobile – or their licence to drive one – away.

It’s just a shame we won’t show the guts necessary to take those privileges away for life – like the Chinese have done. Punishment is also a form of education.

Interestingly, I have already had one hit on the search term – and I want to highlight it:

I drive for my living in UK will careless driving charges affect me?

If anyone was offended by my comment above, this is the proof that I am right to have little sympathy for anyone who flaunts what they already know to be the law. It doesn’t matter which country they are from, who they are, or how old they are. If they drive cars they are adults, and we need to stop all the mollycoddling – that’s how it got like this in the first place.

The Lennox Herald seems to think some sort of about-turn has been made, or some victory achieved over the “closure” of the Dumbarton test centre.

Let’s just touch base with reality for a moment. This story started when Dumbarton instructors staged a protest over something that existed only in their imaginations. The DSA said quite clearly:

DSA plans to continue to provide driving tests in Dumbarton. There are no plans to transfer testing provision to Anniesland or elsewhere.

Testing in Dumbarton has been operating three days a week on a trial basis, but this will be reviewed and can be increased if there is sufficient demand for more days.

Candidates can still book tests slots in Dumbarton for the days when testing is taking place.

It only went this far because the lease ran out on the previous site, and it was looking for another. This new article says the same thing:

The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) had only been operating three days a week since moving to a temporary base in the town’s Burgh Hall.

But it gets a little more curious if you read into what a local councillor says:

The DSA will still be based in the Burgh Hall while actively seeking permanent premises, but we’ve given a commitment that they can have the hall for five days instead of three for the same fee.

So it appears that part of the problem was that the local council was either not offering the premises for five days, or it was trying to charge too high a fee for that length of time. Whatever the case, a large part of the problem seems to not have been the DSA’s fault.

They’re still going on as if the test centre could move away in Dumbarton, though. They still can’t understand what the DSA said:

DSA plans to continue to provide driving tests in Dumbarton . There are no plans to transfer testing provision to Anniesland or elsewhere.

However, it will surely pass into ADI folklore that the DSA tried to close down the Dumbarton test centre, force people to travel hundreds of miles, but was pushed into an embarrassing climbdown because a small group of instructors held a “protest convoy”.

Basingstoke’s theory testing facilities are closing down and being moved to Reading. The practical test is not moving.

For the record, it is only 17 miles or so to Reading from Basingstoke.

Of course, to anyone living in Basingstoke, this is “ridiculous”. A “shock move” which has “annoyed” driving instructors (what the bloody hell the location of the theory testing facility has to do with driving instructors is anyone’s guess).

The closure is for simple reasons:

DSA says the closure decision will save money as not enough theory tests are taken in Basingstoke.

The theory test centre in The Square, Basing View, has the capacity to hold 20,000 tests each year, but from 2010 to 2011, just 7,338 were taken, of which 6,467 were car candidates.

Quite simple.

Mind you, one instructor’s logic is highly amusing:

It’s ridiculous. They have kept the practical test centre because there’s too much work to close it, so surely they have the same amount of work for the theory test centre.

Yeah, everyone passes first time, and no one moves in or out of an area. And you can have as many driving examiners operating from a test centre as you can computers sitting in an office! Duh!

The Times & Star is still on the case of the impending move of theory testing facilities from Workington to Carlisle.

Let’s just remind ourselves what the DSA has said. Again. And I’ll do it in bigger letters this time:

There are no plans to withdraw the practical test service from Workington.

This latest salvo once again ignores that pretty clear statement. Again. It reports on a meeting involving around 50 driving instructors (I can’t imagine anyone having a meeting because they agree with or are neutral about the move) to discuss the transfer.

The MP, Tony Cunningham, who is carrying the standard over this says:

The reaction we’ve had from the public is strongly in our favour. They don’t want to see another service from the west of the county moved to Carlisle.

Moving the centres would mean long trips for people when money is tight and they could get held up in traffic and lose their exam time.

It’s expensive for young people so it’s only right that they have a centre close to their homes to be able to sit the exams.

I’m not sure what this is supposed to prove. Yes, given the choice people wouldn’t want it to transfer. Of course, given the choice, people would want the facility on every housing estate, in every village, and among every isolated community – but what we want isn’t always what we get, usually because we are being unreasonable in our demands. So although there might be “support”, that doesn’t prove that the decision to move the facility is wrong.

So it comes down to money. I wonder how he thinks keeping the facility in Workington is going to be financed? The DSA has said the centre isn’t cost effective (that means it costs more to run it than is justified by the number of tests carried out there), so they either close it… or find the money some other way. Such as by increasing the test fees or, if the Mickey Mouse coalition finances it, by increasing taxes somewhere.

And if one stays open, everyone else has a precedent to call on when campaigning over any changes in their neighbourhood.

He goes on:

If it [the theory test facility] does go then there is a chance that the driving tests will go too…

I refer again to the quote in big letters above.

The Times & Star has its own comment on the situation. For its own part, it is trying to link in every closure or change to local services with this totally separate situation, and proceeds on the assumption that the practical test will also transfer.

One last time (for today) I refer to the quote in big letter, above.

I wrote recently about the impending cessation of theory testing in Workington, Cumbria, and the transfer of theory testing facilities to Carlisle. Those wishing to take the theory test will now have to travel 32 miles.

It is worth noting from a map of the area that anyone who doesn’t live in Workington already has to travel – perhaps not 32 miles, but they still have to travel. In fact, for people not living in Workington, they will quite possibly have to travel almost the same distance to Carlisle that they already do to Workington.

Cumbria is not exactly the most densely populated county in England.

The News & Star – the same publication that reported on the original story – is now stirring the pot a little more. The DSA has stated quite clearly that there are no plans to stop the practical test in Workington. It has said:

There are no plans to withdraw the practical test service from Workington.

Now, if you are a driving instructor or a local MP (or a twopence ha’penny newspaper) then it is as plain as day that the DSA has stated categorically that it is planning to move practical driving tests to anywhere you want to imagine up out of thin air! Carlisle… Newcastle… Leeds… there’s no limit to what can be read in the statement “there are no plans to withdraw the practical test service from Workington”.

And quite rightly so.

The South Yorkshire Times mentions a DSA promotion where new drivers who have taken the Pass Plus course can claim a free road safety kit from selected Jet garages.

My only criticism is that it is the first five clamants at each garage, and only at two garages - it should be much bigger and wider than that. But that isn’t the DSA’s fault. This idiotic coalition masquerading as a government is forcing them to keep miniature test centres open in run down areas and still make cut backs.

Pass Plus is an incredibly useful course. It’s only weakness is the people who deliver it.