I am 19 now, but when I was 17, the council cut the bus services to my sixth form, leaving me with no choice but to drive. I live in a rural area and getting around without a car is virtually impossible. If I look back and think about how this policy would have affected me, I wouldn’t have been able to get to school for the entireity of Year 12 unless my parents or other parents of my schoolmates started work late. Another concern is the idea that young people should not drive others, which again in my circumstances would be impossible. I know it’s not the intended effect, but regulations like this coupled with a reduction in public transport have seriously detrimental impacts on rural communities.
concretepigeon on
> Learner drivers currently face a waiting time of around six months to take their practical tests anyway, due to a backlog from the Covid pandemic. The backlog is expected to last until late 2027.
Wake up. New kicking the can down the road just dropped.
BigBeanMarketing on
I did mine a couple years ago, did a five day intensive course and passed first time on day 6. No issues at all in the two years I’ve been driving. If the Gov are genuinely concerned, why not make the test harder? This is just a way for them to say “Good news, we’ve tackled the backlog… By making the current waiting time mandatory”.
GrapefruitMother3902 on
I’m sure all the new drivers would love to pay for that many lessons at current prices.. lol everything is becoming a joke
Legal_Farmer_8248 on
Or you can pay £250 to buy a test off of instructors who are able to hoard multiple bookings like dragons.
My daughter took 5 attempts to pass, cost a fortune and there was nothing available to book ourselves.
Fatboy40 on
Excluding the “6 months” part of this where are all the traffic Police who would enforce the potential “graduated driving licences” (GDLs) etc.?
I see practically zero of them now when I drive around town etc., with the assumption that lack of funding has caused this. When I drive past two specific points on a local 70 limit A road I still see many drivers slow down as Police used to regularly be there, however there have been none there for the past two decades or so.
If the Government gave a shit about road safety they’d deal with those who passed their test years ago and now never indicate and always speed as they know they’ll never be stopped for it :/
Underscore_Blues on
Or…
You could stop instructors being able to book tests and stop transfers of tests, both of which are exploited by people who backhand pay others to skip the queue.
Why do they insist on not actually fixing the problem?
This does hardly anything as even in 2023 I know the waiting list was 5 months.
JeffersonRP96 on
With how expensive lessons are, learners are just gonna spread them out more rather than do more learning. How does this solve anything?
I spent less time than that learning and passed first time, why should I have waited an extra couple months? Surely the test is what determines if someone is capable, not an arbitrary amount of time.
InternetHomunculus on
I don’t see how this will help anything when you get people who have been driving for 20 years who still drive poorly. Some sort of cultural attitude change is needed so people don’t forget how dangerous it can be when you drive like a cunt
The fact you see people with black boxes with stickers on the back of their car apologising for going the speed limit speaks volumes about the average persons attitude to driving
rainbowyOctopus on
What happens if your theory test expires? You have to wait a mandatory six months again? Even if you have had loads of lessons already? Lots of people have to take gaps in learning for various reasons. The policy doesn’t make much sense at the moment.
10 Comments
I am 19 now, but when I was 17, the council cut the bus services to my sixth form, leaving me with no choice but to drive. I live in a rural area and getting around without a car is virtually impossible. If I look back and think about how this policy would have affected me, I wouldn’t have been able to get to school for the entireity of Year 12 unless my parents or other parents of my schoolmates started work late. Another concern is the idea that young people should not drive others, which again in my circumstances would be impossible. I know it’s not the intended effect, but regulations like this coupled with a reduction in public transport have seriously detrimental impacts on rural communities.
> Learner drivers currently face a waiting time of around six months to take their practical tests anyway, due to a backlog from the Covid pandemic. The backlog is expected to last until late 2027.
Wake up. New kicking the can down the road just dropped.
I did mine a couple years ago, did a five day intensive course and passed first time on day 6. No issues at all in the two years I’ve been driving. If the Gov are genuinely concerned, why not make the test harder? This is just a way for them to say “Good news, we’ve tackled the backlog… By making the current waiting time mandatory”.
I’m sure all the new drivers would love to pay for that many lessons at current prices.. lol everything is becoming a joke
Or you can pay £250 to buy a test off of instructors who are able to hoard multiple bookings like dragons.
My daughter took 5 attempts to pass, cost a fortune and there was nothing available to book ourselves.
Excluding the “6 months” part of this where are all the traffic Police who would enforce the potential “graduated driving licences” (GDLs) etc.?
I see practically zero of them now when I drive around town etc., with the assumption that lack of funding has caused this. When I drive past two specific points on a local 70 limit A road I still see many drivers slow down as Police used to regularly be there, however there have been none there for the past two decades or so.
If the Government gave a shit about road safety they’d deal with those who passed their test years ago and now never indicate and always speed as they know they’ll never be stopped for it :/
Or…
You could stop instructors being able to book tests and stop transfers of tests, both of which are exploited by people who backhand pay others to skip the queue.
Why do they insist on not actually fixing the problem?
This does hardly anything as even in 2023 I know the waiting list was 5 months.
With how expensive lessons are, learners are just gonna spread them out more rather than do more learning. How does this solve anything?
I spent less time than that learning and passed first time, why should I have waited an extra couple months? Surely the test is what determines if someone is capable, not an arbitrary amount of time.
I don’t see how this will help anything when you get people who have been driving for 20 years who still drive poorly. Some sort of cultural attitude change is needed so people don’t forget how dangerous it can be when you drive like a cunt
The fact you see people with black boxes with stickers on the back of their car apologising for going the speed limit speaks volumes about the average persons attitude to driving
What happens if your theory test expires? You have to wait a mandatory six months again? Even if you have had loads of lessons already? Lots of people have to take gaps in learning for various reasons. The policy doesn’t make much sense at the moment.