South Meath Driving School

Many moons have come and gone since Jimmy Joe sat his driving test in Carrick town. There was little preparation. ‘Look in the mirror now and again and don’t drive too slowly,’ advised a fellow driver who had recently passed his test. It was a time before roundabouts, changing lanes, Zebra crossings, let alone a Toucan crossing, and there were no traffic lights in Carrick. There are still no such lights there – they believe in ‘keeping it country’ yet they do have traffic lights on their treasured canals and waterways.

Oh, and JJ passed his test. He drove around for a half hour, negotiating junctions, a turnabout and reverse, and proved to be proficient.

There were less than one million vehicles on our roads in those 1970’s, now there are nearly x2.5 times that figure. There was no standard of test set by the Dept of Transport until 2007 when the Road Safety Authority was assigned the task.

Out of that design came the Essential Driver Training, a must – do 12 lessons with an Approved Driving Instructor (ADI)  before sitting the driving test and some other strings attached. Our roads are of the Continental style now with hatched areas, yellow box junctions, flyovers etc. Modern drivers are skilled and educated to the dangers lurking out there, thanks to the new programme.

However, the driving test format hasn’t changed drastically since JJ’s sojourn in Carrick town.

There’s one tester with a pad on his/her knee sitting beside the nervous candidate for about a half hour’s drive around the town, then back in for a certificate of competency or the other unwanted one.

Looking at candidates on the day, it’s as much a test of nerve as competency. The ADI should have an input for this test; the ADI is the one who has tutored, tailored and observed for at least six months (in accordance with the new regulations.)

The final decision is with one person. Testers are well trained, too. However, I disagree that one tester should be assigned the sole power to decide on what I believe can be a matter of opinion vis a vis a matter of fact. Take the driving fault stated at section 6 of the Test Report Form:

‘Allow sufficient clearance to pedestrians, cyclists, stationary vehicles etc.’  Taking the latter situation (passing  stationary vehicles) – a whiz kid of 17 years with excellent spatial awareness skills might be only inches from a number of parked vehicles on Kennedy Road (Navan) as he meets a large van coming from the opposite direction. This young driver knew what he was doing and that there was no danger of his wing mirror clipping that of the parked vehicles. Yet the tester thought different. He was too close. Tick eight more boxes for minor infringements and you fail by one.

Yes, he was 2 over the speed limit, he didn’t ‘observe’ properly turning right and left and the gears grated a little, etc. Apply again. Mammy, more driving lessons, more money. Oh, and another 103 euro to re-sit the test. A retest should be at 50% of the original cost.

I have to honestly ask the question, what had the half hour’s test drive to do with road safety, generally? There’s hardly a whit of difference between JJ’s test in Carrick in the 70’s and that of today. Driving in traffic tests the ability to clutch and brake and that aforementioned ‘spatial awareness’ thing, being aware of things in the space around you and the body’s position in its space.

Driving at 50 k/ph for a half hour does little to test the adrenalin – soaked adolescent. About 70% of all fatal crashes occur on regional and local roads. A more stringent test would be like that of  the Trim to Kildalkey road, onto Athboy and back to Navan. Dealing with farm machinery, overtaking tractors, cyclists and the like and changing a wheel on the way should all be a better test of a driver’s ability. What about a night time drive or in varying weather conditions?

I would propose a second test after two years, taking in motorway driving, parking in shopping centres and driving in crowded areas. As practically every young person has the ambition to drive, it should be part of the school curriculum in conjunction with drink driving awareness, drug taking, speed, and having talks by victims of crashes.

The car is a lethal weapon that kills some 1.2 million people world-wide, annually. Let the bicycle be promoted as a wonderful means of transport. The use of public transport and walking should also be encouraged.

Alas, how does the EDT system compare with what existed beforehand? Let’s compare the pass rates from random driving test centres, keeping in mind that the EDT system was introduced in April 2011.

Sligo and Longford centres show a slight increase in their pass rates. But, look at Navan – the pass rate last year is down 7% on  ’08 and Portlaoise is extraordinary in that their pass rate is down nearly 20% on ’08, while drivers in Sligo have a 20% better chance of passing than in Navan. Put another way, drivers in Sligo are 20% better than drivers in Meath! It does not make much sense as better standards of driving are proving true in road death and serious injury figures. Ireland is now a leading light in Europe and the world so why doesn’t the test pass rates reflect such in this county or Laois, for instance.

Where does that leave the EDT system? Before April ’11 there were no compulsory lessons; then it was 12 such lessons of one hour’s duration and the standard falls in Meath and Laois while it rises in Longford and Sligo. Incidentally, there was 1 fatal collision in Laois in 2011 and none in ’12. Yeah, those damned statistics. With the new standard of instruction, there’s no reason that the pass rate should reduce to any extent. A lot of people are concerned that failure rates in the NCT garages and driving test centres might relate to a financial clause. I just hope it does not.

Soon, a driving instructor may accompany a candidate during his/her test. It’s crumbs from the master’s table as there can be no further input from the ADI.

I would recommend that a camera or cameras be placed in the test vehicle (during the test) and that there be two testers and the option of the ADI being present. Afterwards, there should be a consultation process before a result be concluded. Of course it would delay the system. A result need not be instantaneous – let it arrive in the post in days or a week.

Pope Francis is changing the way of The Curia after that system of governance of the Church being in place for aeons. There is no right of reply for the candidate who fails the driving test. The cost is rising at every turn: each day for the motorist  is a Good Friday – s/he’s being crucified financially. It’s time for the dictatorial system to fade quickly. That being said, I hasten to add that the testers and supervisors that I know are basically honest and hard working. As Con O’Houlihan used say, maybe the problem is with the sums.