 |
|
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
 |
|
|
 |
Take The High Road 9 May 2008 Scots teens test-drive new safety measures
The Department for Transport (DoT) has laid out new proposals for the test which are out for consultation until September this year. Among the new ideas are: changing the practical part of the test by splitting it into two stages and increasing understanding of road conditions and hazards, giving learners training in night-time and bad weather driving, updating the written test so that questions and answers would no longer be published and insisting on a test-readiness certificate before taking the exam. There would also be post-test training courses, including motorway driving, which could lead to reduced insurance premiums. One major alteration would be that teens would no longer be able to sit the test straight after their 17th birthday. The DoT rejected suggestions from MPs and road safety groups to raise the test age to 18 or impose restrictions on newly qualified drivers such as lower drink-drive limits, curfews or carrying passengers. The DoT said the pre-driving schools course was being piloted in Scotland because 'Scottish educational authorities expressed a strong interest and offered to help with this element of our proposals.' So from this autumn 14-16-year-olds in Scottish schools will be given the chance to take a course leading to a certificate developed by the Driving Standards Agency and the Scottish Qualifications Agency (SQA). Topics covered will include the Highway Code, planning journeys, social attitudes, peer pressure, fatigue, road safety and eco-driving. The SQA said they were also considering allowing learners to take the written test at school. The pilot scheme was welcomed by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents which said: 'Scotland will have the chance to be at the leading edge of a development that has the potential to improve the lives and prospects of many people.' |
|
| |
||
|
Advertise with us |
|
||||||||
The biggest shake-up in the driving test since its introduction 73 years ago will see teens in
Scotland take part in a pilot scheme on road safety.
