I saw this news item on the TRL website – it concerns a meeting between the DIA and Mike Penning, the Under-secretary of State for Transport.
Suggestions for the future made by the DIA include:
…[including] the Pass Plus scheme into the learning-to-drive syllabus, including lessons on motorway use, which would include a training session on the carriageway for pupils if they have approved driving instructors.
…students should not be able to apply for a test until their instructor feels they have sufficient experience in motoring on all types of road.
I’m always wary of any organisation’s motives where, depending on the angle of the light, it is either blatantly a union or blatantly a profit-making outfit. In between times, such organisations often resort to being a vehicle for the egos of the founders and most prominent (i.e. loudest or highest politically-aspiring) members.
I saw it’s recent “true” story about the Acromas takeover of BSM, and that came across biased to say the least. It concluded with veiled “doom is upon us” sentiments.
The thing is, the DSA is already conducting “learning to drive” trials, so the DIA is obviously trying to interfere with that by bypassing the DSA completely. Letting learners loose on motorways has already been considered and ruled out in recent times – it would involve huge changes to implement, anyway. And although there is the chink of light for the DIA (it was under Labour that it was ruled out, so the LibCons might side with it for those reasons alone), most accidents involving young drivers occur on rural roads and not motorways – so the proposed change really doesn’t have a valid purpose.
The other suggestion is also a rehash of something which has previously been ruled out. Some learners live in places where “all types of road” are not available, and for that reason alone such a change just wouldn’t fit.
When someone gets in your car, you know if they can drive or not. If they can drive around town and between locations separated by 5-10 miles or so, and do so repeatedly across lessons via different routes with no major issues (plus complete ALL of the basic manoeuvres), then they are capable of passing the driving test and suitable for being allowed out on their own. The examiners should be testing along those same lines.
The problem is with certain (actually, quite a sizable number) current ADIs who don’t teach anything even close to this.
And that’s where the “learning to drive” initiative comes in. Those who are going to have the biggest problems with it are ADIs who don’t teach people properly.