ADUK Archive

Hi Nigel

Yes, my instructor too taught me most of the pass plus during my normal lessons. We waited til feb for snow and then i did a couple of motorway lessons and that was pratically it.

The only reason it would be vote loser for the government is that sooo many people know they are not up to scratch. Maybe one way they could do it would be the get a reduction on your road tax if you have completed advanced course. I dont really know that much about it but does the government back IAM and RoSPA?

x-Sonia-x wrote:The only reason it would be vote loser for the government is that sooo many people know they are not up to scratch.

Strange, isn't it. You ask most people if they think they are a good driver, and most will probably say that they are, it's just other road users that are the problem. Ask them to take a test to prove it, and suddenly they're not so happy.

Mind you, (pretty sure we've discussed this in other threads), some of the advanced techniques such as bold positioning or not indicating unless someone else would benefit might cause issues on an L-test.

x-Sonia-x wrote:I dont really know that much about it but does the government back IAM and RoSPA?

No the IAM don't get any significant financial help from central government. Some local IAM groups get very small amounts of funding from local council road safety teams.

Having said that, the recent posting about Swindon council removing speed cameras hint that some resources will be diverted to driver education and the IAM is specifically mentioned but I don't know what that amounts to.

Can anyone please tell me why car learners cannot be allowed onto motorways (if one available nearby) when in their latter stages of training?????
Don't make sense to me - allowed on 70mph(plus) duals which can have more dangers on them but not on 70mph(plus) m'ways were there is less danger !!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the reasons they are not taken onto motorways is that the motorway infrastructure does not cover the whole UK therefore it's not possible to test everyone fairly. If someone failed on a motorway and some passed where there wasn't one thats not a fair test.

daz6215 wrote:One of the reasons they are not taken onto motorways is that the motorway infrastructure does not cover the whole UK therefore it's not possible to test everyone fairly. If someone failed on a motorway and some passed where there wasn't one thats not a fair test.

Do test centres in central London have access to rural NSL? Or rural centres to heavy city traffic? Why not make most use of what's available and include motorway where centres have appropriate access? I guess a bigger problem is that with junctions often 5+ minutes apart (especially if you want to see the candidate to anything other than sit in lane 1), you would need a longer test.

jont wrote:

daz6215 wrote:One of the reasons they are not taken onto motorways is that the motorway infrastructure does not cover the whole UK therefore it's not possible to test everyone fairly. If someone failed on a motorway and some passed where there wasn't one thats not a fair test.

Do test centres in central London have access to rural NSL? Or rural centres to heavy city traffic? Why not make most use of what's available and include motorway where centres have appropriate access? I guess a bigger problem is that with junctions often 5+ minutes apart (especially if you want to see the candidate to anything other than sit in lane 1), you would need a longer test.

That maybe true but im sure they can exercise the full spectrum of speeds upto NSL and the instructor can train them on L plates on those roads with more time on hand prior to the test taking place, the motorways simple do not exist in some places, cornwall for example ! Im not defending it by the way I happen to think it rubbish also!

http://www.highways.gov.uk/aboutus/139.aspx

daz6215 wrote:One of the reasons they are not taken onto motorways is that the motorway infrastructure does not cover the whole UK therefore it's not possible to test everyone fairly. If someone failed on a motorway and some passed where there wasn't one thats not a fair test.

How long would the test have to be to access a motorway, drive at least one junction's worth and get back to the test centre?
There is the legal issue too. A motorway is a "special road" and car learners are forbidden for a start. What would happen if the learner did something so bad that the examiner stopped the test - how's the examiner going to walk off the motorway which is illegal as a pedestrian? The law would have to change.

It's messy.

daz6215 wrote:One of the reasons they are not taken onto motorways is that the motorway infrastructure does not cover the whole UK therefore it's not possible to test everyone fairly. If someone failed on a motorway and some passed where there wasn't one thats not a fair test.

I was not saying that part of the test should be on a motorway, just that car learners should be taken onto one during their latter training if one was available - see my next text....

crr003 wrote:A motorway is a "special road" and car learners are forbidden for a start.

This is why - a "special road" - makes the car learner think that it is more dangerous when in fact it is not - puts fear and/or trepidation into some of them !!!

crr003 wrote:A motorway is a "special road" and car learners are forbidden for a start.

This is why - a "special road" - makes the car learner think that it is more dangerous when in fact it is not - puts fear and/or trepidation into some of them !!![/quote]

Totally, totally agree, how can someone pass their test, when they have never been shown how to deal with a particular road. For my own experience i was lucky to have an instructor who took me out on pass plus on the motorways, but of course this was my own choice. It shouldnt be down to own choice whether you are taken on a motorway or not. On the other hand, my sister who has been driving for around 10 years, will never go outside of the town she lives in, simply coz she would never go on a motorway. She maybe would not have that fear if she had been taken on them during lessons.

It should be down to the instructors decision as to whether their pupil is advanced enough to cope with it.

ROG wrote:

I was not saying that part of the test should be on a motorway, just that car learners should be taken onto one during their latter training if one was available - see my next text....

Yep I know just giving an explanation as to why they may not be tested on those roads!

x-Sonia-x wrote:
Totally, totally agree, how can someone pass their test, when they have never been shown how to deal with a particular road. For my own experience i was lucky to have an instructor who took me out on pass plus on the motorways, but of course this was my own choice. It shouldnt be down to own choice whether you are taken on a motorway or not. On the other hand, my sister who has been driving for around 10 years, will never go outside of the town she lives in, simply coz she would never go on a motorway. She maybe would not have that fear if she had been taken on them during lessons.

It should be down to the instructors decision as to whether their pupil is advanced enough to cope with it.

Why cant you learn how to use motorways on a dual carriageway as a learner, they have the same top speeds as motorways and are much more dangerous (intersectons, T junctions and pedestrians for example) , surley if you can handle a dual carriageway with all the extra hazards thrown in that a motorway does'nt have, the transistion onto motorway driving should be no real problem when you pass your test?

Yep point taken. I personally dont have a problem with motorways and was taken regularly on dual carriageways during my lessons. But there are people out there, who do have a 'fear' and that fear would probably be diminished if they had experienced it. Its the unknown that frightens people and if you have passed your driving tests there shouldnt really be any unknowns.

x-Sonia-x wrote:Yep point taken. I personally dont have a problem with motorways and was taken regularly on dual carriageways during my lessons. But there are people out there, who do have a 'fear' and that fear would probably be diminished if they had experienced it. Its the unknown that frightens people and if you have passed your driving tests there shouldnt really be any unknowns.

There can be though, what about ice, snow fog, darkness it's not always possible to predict weather conditions and even by showing some interest in improving doing things like pass plus cant predict weather. Some people out there will not have driven in some of these conditions , How do we incorporate this into the test?

There can be though, what about ice, snow fog, darkness it's not always possible to predict weather conditions and even by showing some interest in improving doing things like pass plus cant predict weather. Some people out there will not have driven in some of these conditions , How do we incorporate this into the test? [/quote]

This is why I think the whole driving test system is wrong. Everyones lessons should incorporate all of the above, otherwise they should not be put in for their test. In feb of this year we had snow, I phoned my instructor and asked for lesson in it, which I had. If I had not had that lesson there is no way I would of been able to handle the situation to the best of my ability. The lesson gave me the confidence to be able to drive in that situation. But again it was personal choice for me to pay for a lesson after i had passed my test.