Proposals for UK Driving Test Changes and Speed Limit Changes
 

Okay so I just heard on Five News that the governement is proposing changing the driving test and speed limits.
The speed limit will be dropped from 30mph to 20mph in built up areas and from 60mph to 50mph under these proposals.

Also with the proposals there will be a section where the driving instructor will not tell you where to go but give you a location you have to go to and you have to make your own way there !

First off they used the example of someone being killed because the driver was going 80mph in a 40mph area.....if that's the case the speed limit changes probably won't stop that. Although I think maybe they could be dropped, or stricter penalties in force.
And then the driving test I think isn't fair. If you don't know your area that well and can't plan what are you supposed to do? Drive around with a map on your lap? I don't get it really....

Your thoughts?

And here's a link on their proposals/plans:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8009364.stm

I don't know what the roads are like in the UK, but the speed limits are already too low in the US.

20mph is ridiculously slow.

The speed limit thing is a good idea in my opinion. I don't know why people speed anyway. Whats the point? But, like you said, speeding happens. Changing the limits won't stop speeding. But I guess for those that stick to the limit, perhaps accidents will be less damaging under the changes.

The driving test.....I'm undecided. On the one hand, it seems a bit unfair to ask a pupil to find their own way somewhere when they are in a high pressure situation.
On the other hand, it is more true to real life which is what I think tests should focus on.

I think it's wonderful. One of my friends is already being taught under this 'go here' rule, and it seems really good - it's real, practical life experience, that you'll need to know.
But I do understand that it must be significantly more pressure.

As for the speed limits - 60mph is too fast in most areas, especially on country roads, where people seem to want to hit the limit, instead of just it being a limit. 20mph is just a little slow everywhere though? There are already 20mph zones in York, which works well - around schools and such - but around all built-up areas?!

I think the "go-here" section of a driving test is completely unfair. For a start it puts rural candidates at a distinct disadvantage.

For example I used to live in rural North Yorkshire when I attempted to learn to drive, my nearest test centre was middlesbrough. If I passed my test I wouldn't be driving around middlesbrough so why should I have to memorise every street in it to pass my driving test? If they changed it so that the tests were done in a location close to your home then perhaps it is a little better. Or even if they limited the questions to a certain number of well known local landmarks that pupils were aware of before the test.

They cant put it down my grandma already drives at 20-25 everywhere if they put it down to 20 she would drive at 10-15 and we would never get anywhere!

This was my thoughts. Really, you should do alot of driving around where you take your test and LEARN the area- every lesson I took we went to there, I never drove around my own town. I lived 15 or so miles from where I took my test, (and they take you out much farther north than that), and I didn't know the area at all when I learned, but by the time I passed, I knew the test routes like the back of my hand. So it's completely possible- they'll probably have set locations not more than a few miles out. It would just make it much more like driving in the real world, instead of just having to do all the stupid little bits that you never really use, not properly anyway. Everyone goes up the curb on a 3 point turn once in a while :P

As for lowering the speed limits: no. Just no. Work on tailgating more, I see that as a much bigger threat personally. 20 works in some areas. It won't work on the average town road, I just don't see people following it. And having 60mph as the limit is better for your fuel milage than 50.

actually, i'm going to take my driving test soon, and i quite like the idea of that, it sounds more real-life and thats pretty much what I do in my lessons anyway

as a learner, i drive pretty slow anyway, so the speed limit thing doesnt affect me that much, but i'm sure it will be annoying when i get a bit more confident

WHAT?! That's rediculas!! What a ****ing joke! What happens if you absolulty no sense of direction at all?! I couldn't get myself to school and i've done the route for like 5 years, how the hell would i get to anywhere like that?! Jesus.
Unless they're gona give you sat navs its a complete joke.

LOL made me laugh :P

To see how the speed limit changes would work, just look at the speed limit changes we did in the US because of the 1970's oil embargo. It didn't help.

I don't know enough about England to know what speed limits would be safest though.

Changing speed limits will make NO difference. People that want to speed will still speed. Practically everyone drives at 80 on the Motorway for a start.

As for the "go here" idea. Ridiculous. I live in the arse end of nowhere. I have been in and around Northampton for 22 years and if I was told to find a certain road, I still think I would struggle. I know Northampton very well, but not well enough to guarentee finding somewhere that could be some obscure little side street.

/Daily Mail style rant.

Driving tests are meant to test your ability to control a car and your general road sense, both of which are universally-applicable skills. They don't need to test your ability to plan a route because they know that the skills they are asking you to display are ones which will be used whether you are driving a route you know well or in a new area. It is assumed that if you have fair road sense and can make the car do what you want, you will be able to travle fairly successfully from A to B. They don't need to test that as a separate skill.

People don't speed in accordance with the limit. Dropping the limit won't make them drop the speed at which they break the limit. It''ll just make everyone's journey's longer and more frustrating.

I lol'ed.

i think the go here is an interesting concept but perhaps there should be a clause where one could bring their own sat nav for those that need it. perhaps there will be. most instructers will be savvy enough to teach you around your test centre...especially nearing the time of your test. i don't doubt that there will be set routes still, they're not going to send you off willynilly to get themselves fish and chips in a street in the middle of a housing estate maze; there will more than likely still be set routes, which instructors will know, thus , if you've practiced All of the prospective routes before taking your test, i can't see there would be a huge issue.

perhaps walking the routes before your test is due may also help...

as for the speed limits- i think they should be slower around schools at least at dropping off and picking up times .... there is a school near me, and even 30 looks really fast when there are so many young kids about. a lot of people slow down anyway, but some just don't seem to care

There does tend to be lower limits around schools. Usually they are 20mph.

New speed limits aren't designed to stop those who disregard the law and speed anyway, they're designed to improve the survival rates for pedestrians hit by the majority who drive sensibly within the law.

Fact of the matter is if you hit someone at 30mph there is a one in five chance you will kill them, whereas it's one in forty if you hit them at 20mph. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8009364.stm)

I dont agree with any of this. To be fair the speed limits IMO are fine. The driving test thing isnt fair either. If I was learning to drive and stuff it would take me over an hour to get to my nearest test centre and therefore will be pointless for a lesson for me to get used to the area.

thats a stupid idea . i am new to my area and if i had to do my test here i would have no hope i'd just fail. good job i've done it already

^ But I think that's part-of the point. You aren't always going to know where you're going, but you've still got to find your way there.

But then surely for that idea to be realistic you'd be allowed access to Sat-Nav, or a map or google maps or AA route-planner. Because those are the things people use when they don't know where they are going in the real world.

As in you don't have to have a good sense of direction to be a good driver, but if you don't have one then careful planning beforehand compensates for it.

I believe that if you don't get up to the speed limit in your driving test, it counts as a fault...

I was told to not go under 5 less that the speed limit, ie over 25 in a 30 area and 55 in a 60 area. Unless obviously it isn't possible because of traffic queues.

With the finding your own way somewhere to you have to drive from the test centre then meet a test person at the certain place? Or just they tell you to go somewhere and come back in 15mins?

From what i've heard, they don't give you a location, the instructor will tell you to pull over and imagine you'd just stopped to ask someone for directions. You're then told to take "the second left, third right and first right after that" or something similar. That way it's designed to see how you drive while having other things (namely remembering those directions) on your mind. It's a lot more pressure and it's not something I'm looking forward to when I ever get round to learning to drive but do think it's a good idea.

As for the speed limits, I think it's rediculous. There's a road near me that's a fantastic wide road nowhere near anywhere but because a couple of residential roads back onto it, it's a 30. There is no reason at all that road shouldn't be a 40 and if these proposals come in and it becomes a 20 limit, that would just be rediculous. I could understand it as an idea on roads with schools. However once again it is ill thought out. The only time I can see it being justified is around 9am and 3pm when children would be going to and from school. However, at these times it's impossible to drive at even 20. The roads are all clogged up by mothers dropping off their little darlings in their school run tanks. Therefore, whatever speed limit you put up just becomes academic.

There are 17 million roads on the roads in Britain, it is inevitable that on occasions, some of these will collide and people will die. It is unfortunate but to aim to reduce all these road deaths to zero. The graph of people dying on the roads each year is bottoming out. Despite lowered speed limits, speed cameras, campaigns on television and everything, it is fast reaching or has already reached a state where there is very little anyone can do to reduce the number of deaths further. Therefore reducing the speed limits further will not save any lives and just piss everyone off and make everyone late.

I was taught to drive at an acceptable speed in the area. So, if it was 30, and the roads were relatively clear, to drive at 30. If the speed limit was 30 with a lot of parked cars, you'd get faulted for driving at 30.

And in terms of 60, I was always taught that that is a limit, not an aim. If it's a wide, open road, 60 is fine, but if it's bendy and a thinner road, that 60 would again get you a fault.

I don't know, I took my test about this time last year, so it could've changed since then.

Driving tests are scary enough without having to find your own way to a destination! But I suppose it would be good practice.

I think that a lot of country roads with a national speed limit are completely unsuitable for driving at anywhere near 60mph and I would agree with that limit being lowered - however, having to drive at 20mph instead of thirty seems a bit ridiculous. That's cutting your speed by a third, which means your journey is going to take a whole lot longer. I think that 30mph gives pedestrians plenty of time to look and make sure there's nothing coming so that they can cross the road safely.

tbh , i think driving tests should test the drivers ability. Not their directional skills.

In a normal enviroment there is sat navs , maps , etc..

As someone who started learning to drive in this area just after i moved here. I woulden't know where a certain road is if i was asked..

There's enough pressue on learners as it is.. I dont think trying to remember where a place is under the already stressful test conditions is going to help anyone or test your ability as a driver anymore!..

As for the speed limits.. i think 60 is to fast for some of the roads round here with the national speed limit.. so i agree with the above it should be lowered...

But 20mph.. is slow, rush hour would last more like 2/3!..

Pedestrians should just USE the damn crossings!.. theres enough of them around , or at least pay attention when crossing the road rather than being on the phone/texting/Ipod on full. It doesnt take 10seconds to stop look and cross the road.. I don't think slowing everyone down is going to make ANY difference to the people who dont pay attention anways..

How do expect to squint at a map if you're driving on your own? And not everyone can afford a sat nav. It's really not that hard to get from one town to another. Most places have fairly decent signposts. I find it harder finding actual roads than getting to the town/city/village itself. Learning how to read signposts, and doing a bit of research of the area you're travelling to is a FAR more realistic scenario. What's the point in knowing how to drive if you can't get from A to B on your own?

I dunno, sat navs have definately dropped in price since I passed my test (a whole 5 years ago). I've only had the luxury of using one once, and it was dreadful (but I did encounter the Hemel Hempstead magic roundabout). It is possible to get around even in strange places without one.

At the end of the day you should be able to navigate your way around using road signs and road markings, otherwise you'll come unstuck when you're driving independently. I think the proposed measure to have learners navigate for themselves is an excellent idea. From what I know of it (from a friend who is a driving instructor), it's really inspired from the original test (follow the road you believe is straight ahead, unless informed otherwise) and it will test competency of lane positioning more accurately than it's tested now. In turn that should improve your confidence and competence on the road, which has got to be a good thing.

Lowering speed limits doesn't mean people will stick to them, unless they are enforced with cameras.

Nope, but around schools I think it'd be a better idea.
They can be enforced, and not everybody sees a speed limit and decides not to listen to it - a vast number of drivers do stick to speed limits, especially in built up areas/around school.

Since I started driving, coming up to over two years ago, I have never used a sat nav. I do get lost occasionally but all in all I do ok, and my sense of direction is crap.

I don't think they should really test that sort of thing in the driving test though, people are nervous enough and directions etc are just something that gets easier with practise once driving around.

One of my friends already had this on her test, and had to get to Swindon. She was fine, until she got to a roundabout that had three exits labelled 'Swindon' - she just kept driving round and round!

Her instructor ended up telling her which route to go down, though, and she didn't lose any marks.

If people already break the speed limit what makes them think by lowering it people will go slower.

Well, firstly, not everybody does break the speed limit. The vast majority of people out there do adhere, at least in parts, to the limits that are already there.
Secondly, lowering the speed limit in areas such as around schools raises awareness that there is a school around, so even if you don't stick to the speed limit, you are at least aware and more concious of the fact that there are young children running about.