This is an old story from 2011. So much for government ideas – as of 2015 the idea is no nearer coming to anything, and yet it is one of the most important changes they could make to the driving test.
I saw this in the newsfeeds today. It appears that from sometime next year, learners will be allowed on motorways as long as they are with a qualified instructor.
It won’t be compulsory to take motorway lessons (M-lessons), as many learners live too far away from one.
The story also mentions that the trainee (“pink”) licence system is going to change. This is where unqualified or trainee instructors currently teach pupils. It isn’t mentioned precisely how the change will manifest itself (although the story in the Telegraph – see link below – indicates that this will involve PDIs being actually supervised
They’re also talking about scrapping Pass Plus and replacing it with something else. Again, they don’t say what, yet (well, not in this story, anyway).
The story is also covered by MSN Cars and the Telegraph,
What is interesting is that on a certain web forum frequented by young people of “learn to drive” age, a great many of them think that M-lessons for learners are a bad idea… now that they have passed their tests and are world-renowned (in their own imagination) experts in the field of driving. They appear to hold the opinion that if your test is on a Wednesday, you are totally incapable of driving on a motorway on the Tuesday – but an expert at it come Thursday.
The attitude of some young people on that forum clearly illustrates where the real problems lie – and it ain’t due to lack of motorway tuition, of that you can be sure.
Although I mainly approve of M-lessons, I do have some reservations. The first is that having M-lessons is not going to prevent certain young people being prats, because that’s an attitude that comes with the hormones.
Another concern is the quality of the instructor. Let’s be honest about it: some instructors are not that good even now. How will they fare out on the motorway? And since the motorway is an optional lesson subject which, according to Penning, is down to the fact that many people don’t live near one, what will the cheapo instructors choose to do, faced with the prospect of having to drive more miles up one junction of a motorway on a single lesson than they normally do in all of their “10 for £50” ones? And what will those old fossils do, who only teach test routes and local driving to the more challenging learner, and who consider themselves superior to anyone under 60? Will these choose to cover motorways – or will they simply persist in blaming the DSA for everything and throw up excuses?