UK-based car rental company Flexed has recently released the findings from a driver survey, questioning whether UK drivers were for or against the notion of adding a motorway driving component to the current UK practical driving test. Perhaps surprisingly, the majority of drivers questioned opted for making the test more challenging, with 52 percent favouring the concept. The greatest number of favourable responses came from the 17 to 24 age category, while older, seasoned drivers were more likely to be against the idea, perhaps having being more confident due to a greater amount of on-the-road-experience. The question is – what would happen if the government were to change the driving test to include a motorway component? Would it be a good thing, or bad?
Advantages
With more than half of the drivers questioned during the Flexed survey fully supporting a motorway component being added to the current UK driving test curriculum, there are obviously advantages to implementing such a concept. The primary advantage, of course, is that it would introduce new drivers, and existing drivers who are uncomfortable with motorway driving, to safe techniques and maneuvers on the highway. It can be argued that new drivers do learn how to safely drive at speed on dual carriageways, which offer speed limits of 70 miles per hour – equal to that on UK motorways – but there are many differences between a standard dual carriageway and a motorway.
Many argue that motorway driving requires a greater amount of confidence – both in your ability and in the state of the vehicle – and a fuller understanding of lane discipline than when driving on dual carriageways. While dual carriageways frequently offer areas in which a driver can safely pull over if they become overwhelmed with traffic or have growing concerns about their vehicle, stopping on a motorway, hard shoulder or verge is illegal except if you have an emergency or are instructed to do so by police. According to government documents, ‘the monotony of driving on a motorway can make you feel sleepy’ as there are much fewer points of interest than on a dual carriageway, which can be a shock to the system for new drivers on their first long trip.
Disadvantages
In terms of disadvantages of adding a motorway component to the current UK driving test, there are two that tend to stand out. Firstly, we have to consider that not every new driver has access to a motorway locally, which begs the question – would drivers in Mid Wales, Norfolk, or the Cornish Coast have to arrange to take a driving test miles from their home town, or would they be excluded from the requirements? Secondly, we have to question whether this addition to the test would really be necessary.
The Flexed Survey was undertaken in response to the government’s publishing of the Reported Road Casualties Great Britain: 2013 Annual Report, which showed a motorway fatality increase of 14 percent on recent years. However, this doesn’t necessarily indicate a greater number of accidents. Instead, what it does is demonstrate the increased likelihood of multi-vehicle incidents, and the greater incidence of multi-passenger vehicles using the motorway, such as coaches for example. It could, in fact, be argued that motorways are safer than dual carriageways – they provide little distraction to the driver, and they provide convenient services for using the facilities.
What is interesting to note is that there are many countries around the world that do include motorway (or equivalent) driving on the driving test, and yet the UK boasts some of the lowest levels of driving fatalities in the world. Perhaps in omitting the motorway aspect of the test, we’re doing something right?
