http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30249249

Can't say I agree with some of the changes, especially the sat nav use bit

Driving down standards !

I mean why have such tests as parallel parking when we have the self-park on our Skoda s ;-)

Lol

Next the test would only consist of JUST a cabin check -

as self-drive cars become optional - ha ha ha

So they might drop the 3 point turn (or sometimes up to 5 in my case, depending how stuck I am lo), and if they're on a rd and need to do it to get back out, they're screwed!

Its a turn in the road, not a 3 point turn anymore

I don't agree with the sat nav part, you are more likely to have sign posts at your disposal than a sat nav and I don't think that they should drop the reversing round a corner bit either, as this applies to more things than just junctions, such as parking spots and other things that people regularly reverse round.. I also think that you should have to be able to change a wheel for your test too. Too many idiots out there that just call the AA because of a flat tyre.

I don't agree with the sat nav part, you are more likely to have sign posts at your disposal than a sat nav and I don't think that they should drop the reversing round a corner bit either, as this applies to more things than just junctions, such as parking spots and other things that people regularly reverse round.. I also think that you should have to be able to change a wheel for your test too. Too many idiots out there that just call the AA because of a flat tyre.

Just saw 2 ladies pouring petrol from a petrol can in the middle of a busy road.

Should be a test on when LIGHT comes on for LOW FUEL -

MUST fill up asap!

So many aids are becoming standard I wonder how they'll deal with them or insist learner cars have them disabled

Electronic handbrake

Smart systems that prevents you getting too close to the car in front

Parking sensors/cameras

Speed sign recognition and dash display

Its a turn in the road, not a 3 point turn anymore

yep and has been for quite some time now.

 

No point in teaching someone how to set up a sat nav destination as all sat navs are different and are constantly changing/ evolving.

 

The turn in the road is a constant and a basic part of being able to maneuver a vehicle as is reversing round a corner safely. Ludicrous changes undoubtably being thought up by dimwitted, loony leftist administrators who travel to Swansea on their granola powered velocopedes!

Had to point it out Lee, as the wifes a ADI and it bugged her when I used to say 3 point turn

What with high fuel costs, insurance costs/ restrictions, youth unemployment and a stiffer driving test I wonder if gov bodies are getting worried about youth mobility. Are there a significant number of younger people not bothering to learn to drive ? I noticed earlier this year that the haulage industry were struggling to recruit younger drivers. Perhaps folk upstairs are getting concerned and this is the result ?      

The driving test isn't the problem there though. The problem is the cost of insurance, if they wanted to get young people moving again they would just put a cap on insurance costs.

^ bang on. They're using cheaper and easier modes of transport. One girl I took through the IAM test is at University and has a black box in her car. It registered all her mistakes which counts against her. She has to pay for parking at the University and obviously for the fuel to get there. It's not economical to drive so she's taking peasant transport and consequently not getting the driving experience she needs to pass the test. Cyclical issue as apposed to a cycling issue....

should be able to drive first and do all the relevant manoeuvres before you start using aids.

The driving test isn't the problem there though. The problem is the cost of insurance, if they wanted to get young people moving again they would just put a cap on insurance costs.

I think if someone hasnt any convictions etc, and no one in the house is an insurance risk, then they should get a fair deal until they go wrong, then hit them.

Unbelievable! There are enough dimwits who still can't successfully manage this when it was 

in the test. As for following satnavs...That may prove a challenge when already updating twitter 

posts, taking selfies at the wheel and driving too. The extra screen may prove to be too much

to cope with. Yet they keep making the motorcycle test harder, more expensive and more complex. 

Hardly fair when the most likely thing to knock you off your bike is some barely legal airhead

making a pigs ear of a basic manoeuvre cos they are too busy updating their facebook page. 

If anyone needs more advanced training it's a recently passed ex learner driver since they

are in control of a ton and a bit projectile. Extra training in how to use your eyes and where

to look for traffic/danger would be a useful addition to the test judging by the standards of the

average new driver I've encountered on my travels.

Instant permanent ban if found to be using a phone at the wheel in the first two years as a driver

if I was in charge. After that a return to provisional status with a full retake of all parts of the applicable

test if caught after the two years period.  

Mind you it's only the same thing they have done with GCSEs A levels and degrees. 

Oh look people are finding it a challenge so lets make it easier rather than keep the standards high

and only let the good ones through. If this country ever goes to war again then we are facked.

The driving test isn't the problem there though. The problem is the cost of insurance, if they wanted to get young people moving again they would just put a cap on insurance costs.

£1600 a year for a 1.2 Clio, over 3x the value of the car. Driving standards have dropped dramatically.

£1600 a year for a 1.2 Clio, over 3x the value of the car. Driving standards have dropped dramatically.

£3500 for my first year in a mk1 fabia 1.4 16v elegance

But again 3X the value of the car.

Me being the mug I am I paid it monthly too so I was caned with the interest on top

£3500 for my first year in a mk1 fabia 1.4 16v elegance

But again 3X the value of the car.

Me being the mug I am I paid it monthly too so I was caned with the interest on top

They don't offer monthly as much now on young driver policies. Still some but not as many

£3500 for my first year in a mk1 fabia 1.4 16v elegance

But again 3X the value of the car.

Me being the mug I am I paid it monthly too so I was caned with the interest on top

£4300 for my 1.2 pug 206 automatic, with a black box too. I paid £750 for the car.

I don't understand this. As far as I am concerned the driving standard is not good enough as it is.

 

I had a problem with the test as it was then...I had to reverse park and turn in the road for mine. Anyone can reverse park behind a car with the entire world behind them. Doesn't help when you pass and have to park in any normal parallel space. Consequently I honestly don't feel too confident do so.

 

Using a sat nav? So basically listen to a different voice to the tester. I actually think the self navigating was a very useful thing. I think instructors should do this as a matter of course, rather than tell them where to go.

With regards to insurance, I passed 3 years ago, and couldn't afford to run a car until now and it is still at 1500 or so for me now...In what way am I less of a risk because I didn't drive for 3 whole years? Surely I am more of a risk. But that is the way insurance works...

 

EDIT: Then there is the theory/hazard perception. Repeating questions/scenarios and questions that require no more than simple common sense...

Edited 30 November, 201411 yr by spgSCOTT

£1600 a year for a 1.2 Clio, over 3x the value of the car. Driving standards have dropped dramatically.

 

 

£3500 for my first year in a mk1 fabia 1.4 16v elegance

But again 3X the value of the car.

Me being the mug I am I paid it monthly too so I was caned with the interest on top

 

 

£4300 for my 1.2 pug 206 automatic, with a black box too. I paid £750 for the car.

 

My first car a 1992 1.2 Clio cost me £900 in Hull and insurance there was £960 3rd F&T. Short notice move back to NI (and at the time Norwich Union like many not covering NI) and insurance being far more expensive with less competition, got a 1991 1.1 Fiesta and it was £2850 3rd F&T and that was over 12 years ago! I paid it back then which was a lot more money than £2850 is today in the scheme of things and as a result now seeing the prices in GB having climbed closer, I am happy enough. Nothing has ever annoyed me more with insurance over the years than seeing younger drivers who get insurance in their parents name for their car and then added as a named driver and the number of pure 110% retards who do not understand that they cannot use their NCD on more than one policy. If someone can't afford to drive in the UK with our cheap cars, road tax and more or less equally priced fuel compared to the rest of the EU, they should save up or get the bus. I know and have known people who have bought cars (including brand new) and gone to the lengths of registering it in their mothers name and insurance as well then a named driver. That is just pathetic in my eyes and I would hope that in the event an insurance company would see the modified chaved up cars and dig deeper, void their insurance and push for prosecution. 

 

While getting quotes earlier this week, one major insurance provider who gave me a silly quote called me and wanted to go over the details to try and get me a better price......... Since they were the first to call me back this year I let them try. The thing that surprised and really annoyed me was that the person on the phone said they recommend to their customers to add their parents to the policy to help bring the price down. I said, they would never drive it, my mum doesn't even drive at all and they don't live near me and I point blank never allow anyone else to drive my car etc, but the person insisted I should add them. 

 

 

 

As for the proposed driving test changes................  more stupid accidents = higher insurance for all of us   advanced automated systems in cars need to be banned IMO, they do not remove human error, just add human complacency and destroy experience a driver gains over time. Power steering is more than enough wizardry for the driving test as far as I am concerned! 

I had a problem with the test as it was then...I had to reverse park and turn in the road for mine. Anyone can reverse park behind a car with the entire world behind them. Doesn't help when you pass and have to park in any normal parallel space. Consequently I honestly don't feel too confident do so.

 

When I was learning to drive my instructor used to pick out tricky, short spaces down narrow roads. Come on, get it in people are waiting to get past. It worked.

 

While getting quotes earlier this week, one major insurance provider who gave me a silly quote called me and wanted to go over the details to try and get me a better price......... Since they were the first to call me back this year I let them try. The thing that surprised and really annoyed me was that the person on the phone said they recommend to their customers to add their parents to the policy to help bring the price down. I said, they would never drive it, my mum doesn't even drive at all and they don't live near me and I point blank never allow anyone else to drive my car etc, but the person insisted I should add them. 

 

My dad has only ever been in the car twice, let alone driven it. He was in with me on the day we bought it when we were bringing it back from the garage, and he was in one day going to work because he'd had a couple of pints the night before. Never driven it. Yet he's on the insurance for the purpose you state above. Also it can come in handy if his car were to break down or something happened.

When I was learning to drive my instructor used to pick out tricky, short spaces down narrow roads. Come on, get it in people are waiting to get past. It worked.

 

 

My dad has only ever been in the car twice, let alone driven it. He was in with me on the day we bought it when we were bringing it back from the garage, and he was in one day going to work because he'd had a couple of pints the night before. Never driven it. Yet he's on the insurance for the purpose you state above. Also it can come in handy if his car were to break down or something happened.

 

That's what it's for, he does actually have cause to drive it and has. My problem was that I stated truthfully that there is no eventuality that I would allow this to happen and despite saying that I was advised to do it as a way of reducing my quote by the insurer. If I wanted to allow others to drive my car I could have an open policy which would cover anyone to drive it (£29 option on my insurance), not just set people who would then be required to declare the use of another vehicle in turn to their insurer and be in a position to know of any accidents or convictions to declare for those drivers during the policy etc. That aside for the emergency it's hard to find any older person without cover to drive other vehicles on their insurance, but that's why I have breakdown cover etc. My ultimate reason is that, I did not spend a fortune on insurance and build up over double full no claims to allow someone else to risk that on me.

So many aids are becoming standard I wonder how they'll deal with them or insist learner cars have them disabled

Electronic handbrake

Smart systems that prevents you getting too close to the car in front

Parking sensors/cameras

Speed sign recognition and dash display

 

Electronic handbrake - has been permitted on test for some time.

Parking sensors / cameras - also permitted.

Dash cameras - now permitted but sound must be disabled.

 

When I still taught learners I used to get them to use both sat-nav and cruise control.  They are going to be using them at some point so they might as well get the idea in a controlled situation.

 

I feel that the manouvres are there to demonstrate slow speed car control and judgement as much as anything else.  There was a plan to ask candidates to turn the car around by a means of their choice, they would be able to use any method, including a u-turn, so long as it was safe and appropriate.