Driving Tests every 25 years?

[Scrambledeggyegg]

I’m learning to drive right now... I’m in my mid 30s. I think everyone should have to retake their driving test every 25 years. To both raise revenue and get higher standards of driving. I feel if you have nothing to improve then nothing to worry about. If you’re good enough to pass the test you deserve to drive on the road. If not, then buses for you.

Sincerely hope you fail your test because you sound absolutely bonkers 😂

Bet you wouldn't be saying this if it had been 24 years since you passed your test! How about NO!

Yep this. ^

Rather than retests which people would probably behave for, before reverting to being arse holes, here are some measures that would reduce accidents:

• Cars should be fitted with speed limiters. 70mph ones would be a start, but ideally smart ones which adapt to different road limits. All cars built since last July are fitted with this, though it's possible for the driver to disable it (it does restart every time the engine starts).

• Black boxes. Also a mandatory fitment now. I'd go further and make it a requirement for insurers to proactively report suspected reckless behaviour to the police.

• There should be strict curbs on young drivers (under 21, if not under 25). How many times do we see news reports of an accident involving two teenage men, with their girlfriends in the back? Racing or just plain showing off. It's always an innocent party killed too: the passengers or a third party. Never the idiot driver. So young drivers should not be able to carry other young passengers.

• Alcohol interlock. Another feature you'll start seeing fitted to new cars. Won't let you start your engine without blowing into a tube first.

What should be done about mobile phones though? I think that this will just need old-fashioned policing.

Good god your just as nuts as the OP !
cars that won’t start without a breathalyser?
parents under the age of 25 not being allowed to travel in a car with their child ?
i can’t believe some of the things I’m reading are actually things you deem to be a normal suggestion it’s nuts

Lol. I passed my test just after I turned 17 and by your reckoning I’d be due to retake my test next year at 42.

Spoiler alert OP. It’s not the 42 year olds with 25 years driving experience under their belts that are the problem drivers.

You realise that most of that list is already law? Your next new car will almost certainly be fitted with new safety gadgets. If you have a drink driving conviction in many countries the court will order a breathalyser to be fitted to your car (it's not new, NZ have been doing it for a decade). The May government did (in 2018) consider strict rules on the activities of drivers under the age of 25, though the Johnson administration shelved the plan.

www.parkers.co.uk/car-advice/speed-limiters-what-they-mean-for-you/

www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/mandatory-breathalysers-to-be-fitted-in-all-new-cars-from-2022/

news.sky.com/story/mps-call-on-government-to-reconsider-limits-for-new-drivers-12233232

I've just passed my test in my late twenties, and I don't think there should be new tests after 25 years. The backlog is massive, and it took me six months to retake my second test.

Nevertheless, I know people who have sadly passed away in car crashes, and the majority are younger drivers, which is sad. So maybe, there need to be tighter regulations (not tests) for those under 25's, or they have to do pass plus.

The people that helped me to pass have been driving for nearly 30 years without a single penalty to their name. I've always felt safer with older drivers, anyway.

I don’t much like this idea - it’s expensive and difficult to get a test booked as it is.

What I would like is a licence being provisional on having an eye test at least every three years. Loads of people have really poor eyesight but carry on driving.

Once you actually pass your test and are on the road you will be the crap driver not the person who has been driving for 25 years.

It’s the under 25s who are the most dangerous. There should be more medical checks on elderly people though.

I hope this test doesn’t have parallel parking as I would definitely fail.

Before you do this I would suggest that anyone who didn't take their test in the uk has to pass theory and driving test. Next let's spend time finding, fining and enforcing those driving without tax and insurance and those with a ban.

Next look at what the main cause of accidents is. I suspect it's speed. Retaking a driving test may change this but so doubt it.

Imagine the disruption to peoples lives. You could not stop people driving you would have to give them a time frame in which to pass whilst still driving on their 'old' test.

As regards revenue raising frankly the civil service are terrible at setting up systems - it'll end up costing more to develop, run and maintain. How would you police this? The police can't do the basics let alone keep stopping people to check they've redone their test.

My driving instructor said that you don't really learn to drive until you have passed your test and are out on your own, making the decisions yourself. Learning to drive is about learning to pass a test. Life experience teaches you more.

Yes there are bad drivers out there. But not sure a test every 25 years would change that.

And given the issues at dvla means big impacts on the number of bus drivers (big backlog at getting them through their tests too, same with lorry drivers) it is unlikely that increasing tests for car drivers would be seen as a priority.

This

If you need much of you life governed by the state go ahead . I dont.

Re: blackboxes I dont like the idea of being tracked every where I go. Or being Monitored on how I take a bend in the raod, or what speed I take it at.

I will have an "old" style car as long as possible

Whilst I do agree to an extent, I got a real
Shock that the actual legal standard required for driving.

I get my eyes tested every 2 years, but went early this time as I noticed a deterioration in my vision and I was worried about driving. The optician showed me on the board the standard for driving - not high at all!

I think online theory tests every couple of years would be a great idea, but I'd also like motorway driving to be taught as part of initial driving skills and to be tested on, so we can eliminate middle lane sitters.

My driving instructor said that you don't really learn to drive until you have passed your test and are out on your own, making the decisions yourself. Learning to drive is about learning to pass a test. Life experience teaches you more.

I don’t think passing the test first time is necessarily a good thing for some drivers either. Having a few attempts makes you that much more experienced when you eventually do pass.

I think you should come back in 25 years to justify your comment. And you want to raise revenue for the government? That's interesting.

I agree. Won’t ever get voted in as older voters won’t want it

yes more capacity of testing would be needed but more jobs are a good thing right?

YABU completely unnecessary IMHO, a waste of time and resources. Your opinion will change I expect once you pass your test.

As an aside I wonder if the backlog of tests means testers are under more pressure to get passes rather than retakes?

Most people pass second or third time, or at least in my day did. If be very interested to look at the current stats.

That's difficult for those of us in north Scotland who don't have a motorway.. 😂and fairly pointless too. It wouldn't achieve anything. You'd still have middle lane hoggers and you'd still have people scared to drive on them. People should just treat them like a dual carriageway, both do 70, it's just sometimes got more lanes. They aren't scary or more dangerous, the speeds I see on both are the same.

I’m sure you’re right. However I think there are lots of people whose eyesight doesn’t meet even the relatively low standards for driving. There’s a thing in the Times about a guy who killed a cyclist because he could only see licence plates at 3 metres.

My life wouldn't be governed by the state. This is because I ride a bicycle which - due to the miniscule risk of causing serious harm to others - has no requirement for registration, taxation, data loggers, speed limiters (I'd struggle to exceed 20 anyway) or pollution controls. The freedom is great, you should try it.

In my job of course (I work on public transport) I am highly regulated. Probably why we're the safest in Europe in this industry. We don't share the same casual disregard for safety that many road users do.

I would however be very dependent upon the state if I ended up in an NHS intensive care ward because some lunatic in their two-tonne metal box decided that 120mph is an appropriate speed for a country road.

So I'd be very glad for the state to get a grip on the shoddy driving of other people. It's not like they can be trusted to behave when left to their own devices.