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Merseyside drivers fined £1.2m for using mobiles

mobile-phone-drivingIn the past year, drivers in Merseyside were fined more than £1.2m for using their mobile phones while driving.

The Liverpool Daily Post reported that between April and September this year, police gave out tickets to more than 20,000 drivers for using handheld mobiles while in charge of their vehicles.

Even a driving instructor was among those hit with an £60 penalty and three points on their licence. The driving instructor was teaching a learner driver at the time!

Merseyside Police warned that the number of killed or seriously injured on the road could potentially increase unless they enforced the law. The cause of accidents while driving is not recorded, so there is no available data for how many people may have perished on UK roads because of mobile use.

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Observer on driving test – The DSA backs down

The controversial plan for all learner drivers to be accompanied on driving test by their driving instructor from October 2010 has been partially scrapped.

learner-driver-on-testA meeting was held at DSA’s Headquarters with ADI representative organisations on 24th September 2009. At the meeting, the DSA responded to the objections raised by ADI’s and ADI organisations to the original proposal of making it mandatory for supervising drivers to accompany candidates on all driving tests.

DSA Chief Executive Rosemary Thew explained that the DSA had reflected on the points raised.  Chief Operating Manager Brian Gilhooley read out the following statement:

“The proposal that candidates should be required to take an observer with them on their practical car driving test from October 2010 has generated a great deal of debate. DSA has received comments from a variety of stakeholders and has met with the ADI Consultative Groups and the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS). We have listened carefully to all the views expressed. We remain convinced that an observer sitting in on test will enhance the learning process, which, in turn, will provide road safety benefits. We recognise, however, that there are valid reasons why an approach based on education and incentivisation might be preferable to mandating through regulation at this stage.

“So this is the approach we suggest: at the start of the test, driving examiners will ask all candidates if they would like their driving instructor (or another observer, such as a parent, guardian or friend who has taught the candidate to drive) to sit in on their test. The examiner will then ask the candidate if they would like their instructor be present for the test result and debrief. This will allow candidates to take advantage of the opportunities available to support their ongoing learning and development, but will leave the final decision with them.

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‘Driving Instructor’ to become ‘Driving Coach’?

The industry is changing, and it’s about time!  Out with the old-fashioned and largely ineffective teaching methods, and in with the successful new coaching style.  Some may argue that their current instructional style is proving very effective, but they largely base this claim on their pass rates.

But pass rates mean nothing when young drivers pass their tests and go on to have crashes.  The facts:

  • An 18-year-old driver is more than three times as likely to be involved in a crash as a 48 year-old.
  • One in five new drivers has a crash within six months of passing their test.

So at long last, it appears that the DSA are supporting the approaches that many driver trainers like myself have been pushing for for years – progressing from short-term instructional methods which tend to help learners pass the driving test, towards more active-learning methods which prepare learners for solo driving and to foster ongoing learning after passing their driving test.

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