Improve road safety, remove dangerous drivers, increase revenue for UK gov and jobs for more senior citizens???
Repeat driving tests every 5 years
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09-06-25 09:57
I have covered this in some depth previously.
It is not going to happen.
It was planned to introduce mandatory retests about 15 - 20 years ago (I know because I was due to be one of the examiners) but it got quickly dropped for political reasons.
I asked the question about its reintroduction a couple of years ago and it was made clear that the idea was dead in the water. -
Community Manager09-06-25 11:14@StirlingM033 I think it’s a fantastic idea. If not every five years, then at least every ten. Like with any skill, it’s good to revisit the basics now and then and refresh our general knowledge.
I just found out about Dutch roundabouts thanks to @olduser, I had no idea they even existed. This kind of thing would be good to include in the study materials of people retaking the test. But it seems it's never going to happen. 🤔
@TC1474 I am now wondering about the possible political reasons. Like, being not very popular with voters?Last edited by Lily; 09-06-25 at 11:21.
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09-06-25 12:42A driving test every 5 years has no merit because real life driving, and the driving test have very little in common.
Passing the driving test is something that has to be done to get a licences to drive on the road, at the best it proves you could remember a few road signs, you know where the brakes are, and can make the car stop or go also you will have read the Highway Code but are unlikely to understand it, to understand it, you would have to understand the problems it is/was trying to find answers to.
Understanding comes much later after much practical experience but this can only happen if the driver has an open mind.
The Highway Code, cannot cover every possible combination of events but it do's set a very good foundation on which to build but like any text there is the problem of interpretation Eg. many drivers having read the code will insist, under certain circumstances they have the right of way, yet the code never says that!
Armed with the licence, we go out onto the road and hopefully, begin to learn how to survive.
Where do's all that leave the retest question?
Well, it is a predictable knee jerk reaction to a difficult problem, by a group who believe, if everyone obeyed the, 'rules' they would not have to think at all about driving, while driving.
I know it is not scientific, it is just a personal observation, I find many more, 'right of way' devotees' among the retest brigade than any other.
I would, when seeking a way to make errant drivers understand, they need to change their ways, there needs to be a penalty, a punishment, an inconvenience, a retest would serve for that, in the hopes that going back to the start will give them an opportunity to review and renew but I wouldn't hold my breath. -
09-06-25 12:49
It all comes down to votes as I mentioned in my original post about this.
When the idea was first muted, the original idea was that all drivers would be retested every 10 years or so. It could only apply to drivers who passed their test on or after a certain date, it cou;d not be applied retrospectively.
A number of us who were/are advanced examiners were approached as additional examiners as the DSA did not have capacity and we are already used to conducting driving tests (some of us were also L test examiners from a previous life) and it would take the weight off the DSA examiners.
Over the next 12 months, we attended various meetings to discuss proposals and make a plan when a civil servant stood up one day and commented that this idea would be a vote loser as all drivers young and old, new and experienced were voters and this idea would lose votes.
The idea was very quickly dropped and buried.
It was for no other reason than it was a vote loser even though it was pointed out like when CBT replaced part 1 for motorcycles that whilst people might moan about it for a while it would soon be forgotten and just accepted as the norm.
This was under the previous Labour administration when the transport minister was a bloke called David Jamieson who also rejected the proposal of motorcyclists wearing black visors legally because the Pedestrian Association took exception as it made us look too aggressive and it frightened their members even though there are sound safety reasons for wearing a black visor.
So anyway, retesting was kicked out and through the various committee's I have been part of over the years it has been made clear tat the idea of mandatory retests is 99% unlikely to be looked at again at anytime in the near future as in never! -
09-06-25 13:02I don't agree that all drivers should retake tests. All those I have spoken to about this look at it as a personal insult, in that it infers they are bad drivers.*
Almost everybody I know will admit to being non-musical or computer-illiterate, but nobody I know will admit to being a sub-par driver.
*All agree that the idea of retests as a punishment is a good one. -
09-06-25 13:33
Based on experience, it is also accepted that there are many young/inexperienced drivers who are much worse than many older drivers and this comes back to the fact that the current L test and level of instruction is not not fit for purpose. -
09-06-25 14:36I am not sure if I have mentioned before that I live in a relatively quiet area, and during the day we have a number of driving schools use the roads locally. One of my pet peeves with them is brake lights before indicators. It is quite common to come across them reverse turning into junctions in the face of oncoming traffic and doing 3-point turns on bends. It seems to me that some of the instructors could do with retests.
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09-06-25 16:20
My brother in law is an ADI and as a result he is allowed to take learners onto the Motorway.
He has not got a clue about Motorway driving and I ended up doing a day with him just to teach him the basics and yet he is allowed to charge silly money to take learners onto a road that needs a different skill.
He does not know the Highway Code. I am one of the subject matter experts who sets the Highway Code questions for the theory test so I use him sometimes just to bounce ideas off him.
I am wasting my time as he has no idea. When I asked hi what happens when he gets asked a question by his students, he just brushes them off and tells them to read up on it when they get home. His argument is he does not need to know it, that is what the theory test is for.
What is worrying is that he is not alone. That is the attitude of many ADI's and they are getting worse both in knowledge and driving standards.
My brother in laws driving standards frighten me, and I am not easily frightened in a vehicle. -
09-06-25 17:57This doesn't apply solely to driving: if a graph was plotted with everyone's official recognised level of a given ability, and their willingness to learn, I'd bet there would be negative correlation
In other words that a sizeable amount consider receiving some kind of authoritative recognition of their ability marks the point where they don't need to do any more learning
I notice it with medics, which is especially ironic as a fundamental thing taught to medical students is that by the end of a lifetime's career over half of what you learn at the beginning will be either overwritten by modern knowledge or simply just found to be wrong
Back on track, it would happen with driving just the same... I believe this is exactly why lots of insurance companies are hesitant to give discounts for those who pass an advanced driving test??
It doesn't mean everyone has that attitude, but arguably a re-test would weed out the offenders, because career learners would be all too happy to have their ability reassessed... Then again, as hinted above, in reality maybe it'd just mean they do a few refresher lessons and then fall asleep for the next 10 years when they get their license back 🤔 -
Community Manager10-06-25 16:13I would be advocating against this - I would definitely not pass if I had to retake now. Most people that pass their test eventually pick up bad habits that don't conform to the prescribed way we are taught - me included. A lot of people also don't want to conform to those idioms either.
I have to say though - whether or not someone is a good driver or a bad driver is relatively subjective - what isn't subjective is passing the criteria of an exam based around a prescribed set of rules and techniques. A bit like an MOT though - it would show that you were roadworthy for that one moment, any thing can happen after it! -
10-06-25 17:29
What I did not explain was that the principle of the retest when it was being discussed was not require or expect drivers who had been behind the wheel for a number of years to drive to the L test standard for a few reasons
1. The standard is cr@p
2. Experience overtakes technique required for a test.
3. The criteria was safety
So to say that you would be unable to pass a test is misguided as it was never intended to send drivers with 20 or 30 years experience back to the start and learn basics all over again.
The whole criteria was based on whether that driver was safe. If the answer is yes, then they pass, but as I find even to this day, I get drivers whose standards are awful and unsafe.
Good driving is not subjective, it is easy to sort the good from the bad from the lazy, but the trouble with most drivers is that they pass their test and think there is nothing more to learn when in fact the learning only really starts when they set off on their own with nobody alongside them.
DSA also teach bad habits as part of the L test and these bad habits become engrained because the DSA will not accept that there are better ways of dealing with certain hazards even though it has been proven to them and this is where the problem lies, namely at the top of the tree. -
Community Manager11-06-25 08:19I love a good debate, thanks @olduser @Nick @Rolebama and @TC1474 for your input.
After reading everyone's opinion, my final take is that if you are an experienced driver and your license is clean, you haven't been in any accidents and you have all your points, you shouldn't retake the test.
However, if you have several infractions you should definitely do it, for your own safety.
But like the original poster mentioned, this is very unlikely to happen.Last edited by Lily; 16-06-25 at 11:21.
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11-06-25 17:49The fly in the ointment is that the waiting time for a driving test at the moment is 21 weeks.
https://www.gov.uk/government/speech...-waiting-times
Now add the re-tests to the waiting list and you would have a logistical nightmare. -
11-06-25 18:11
That is the very reason why they planned to use external examiners such as me...
It would take the pressure off the regular DSA examiners -
13-06-25 14:31I have been here before in another thread, what to do with bad drivers?
In the days when we had traffic cops, there was a very effective, and I think long lasting punishment, standing at the roadside with traffic flowing by while the TC gave a short lecture highlighting what you were doing wrong, and how it should be done, no NIP, no points.
How did it work?
First, what had been wrong and the dangers were being spelled out, while it was fresh in the miscreants mind.
It is important to remember that the offender almost certainly did not understand the danger, and they will stay that way until the big crash happens, if they don't understand the danger why should they seek a different (safer) way?
The roadside chat costs the offender time.
The offender knows the passing traffic know he is having a good talking to.
Drivers, on the whole, had respect for a TC because he was highly trained, experienced, and gathered up remains after crashes along with informing the next of kin of the outcome.
All the above boils down to educating the offender, in what they are doing that is dangerous, because they didn't know, yes, it can be argued they should have known but that argument do's not change anything, the miscreant will drive on to the big crash unless the error is explained.
With computers it should be very easy to record the warning, if our driver reoffends in the same way it will be known and perhaps it is time for the NIP. -
13-06-25 14:47
As I see it, what you have described is an assessment of someone's driving ability not a driving test.
I think this would be appropriate in place of some driving bans, with recommendations to get further training on X, Y, or Z before licences can be restored. -
13-06-25 18:37
A person can be assessed and still fail, I do it on a weekly basis with a whole range of drivers ad experiences.
A driver is still being tested on their ability to maintain a good margin of safety, to provide a smooth, safe and comfortable drive, the difference is we do not expect someone to drive by the numbers as they are required to do for the L test, they are being assessed/tested on theor skills for life, a big difference. -
14-06-25 12:33There is a saying about doing something for a period of time, and gaining experience, and doing something for the same period purely repeating the same thing over and over. The proviso being that, in the second instance, nothing is learned. And as time progresses and change enters the mix, they are incapable of adapting to that change. I think driving does change following the advancement of technology. I seem to spend too much time explaining that there are no such things as slow lanes and fast lanes on motorways. There is one driving lane and however many overtaking lanes.
