What is wrong with the new learner driver licence test?
On the surface, there might seem some credence behind this, so what could be wrong with the new learner driver licence test. I mean novice drivers are over-represented in the road toll, that costs our country over $32bn per annum
As our trusted politicians keep telling us, if it only saves one life, it has to be worth it.
More about the new Learner Driver Licence Test.
The new program, PrepL, is intended to replace the current 30-question paper-based written test for a class C learner licence. By focusing on developing safe behaviours and attitudes, it will ensure new drivers know the road rules, and understand the impact of the Fatal Five.
It focus’s on the fatal five, which is actually seven
Sounds so far, doesn’t it. Here is the catch. The safest period for any driver is in the Learning to Drive phase. So an entry test to this has little value. So while a Learner driver licence test of only 30 questions does leave a lot to be desired, a test of 3 – 4 hours will not prepare them any better, As Enstein said “You cant learn to drive by reading a book”
In fact, they know it takes less than two hours for a novice, i.e a P plate driver, to determine which rules they believe are relevant and which rules are not, throw the rest away and driving becomes a series of trial by error mistakes.
The relevance of the Driving Test?
What this graph is really showing us is that the approach and emphasis of just passing your Provisional driving test, has little to do with the activity of driving.
We are literally doing everything but teaching them how to drive.
Not sure about where I am coming from?
Imagine it is not a graph on driver proficiency, but a business development graph. Lets turn it upside down.
Just imagine working on your new business plan for 12 months, imagine it was a gestation period of 16 years, investment, learning, hard work, dreams, rewards, and challenges.
Then in that transition phase of your business, something went horribly wrong. Instead of taking the next big step forward, it failed, massively, you hung in there, but it never got to your goal, let alone where you started from.
Now this is how we teach our kids how to drive, every day.
So where does driver training go wrong
When it comes to getting our drivers licence it’s all about the student who just wants to pass the driving test, so driving instructors align themselves to the customer’s outcome. The government says they can “learn your own way” and mandates you to do 100 hours of practice. So, who prepares you, to prepare them?
The problem is the industry can only provide a value proposition on two fronts, how quick and how cheap. Yet what they are playing with is irreplaceable.
None of this is addressed by just making the learners driver licence test harder.
Passing the Driving Test, but Failing in Driving
Statistically, it is easy to pass the driving test, but then there is a 3000% spike in accidents, 5 times the fatality rate and 3-5 years for it to find some form of mean average.
This shows the approach of just passing the driving test, does not relate to the post licence driving behaviour, or in simple terms, we did everything but actually teach them what good driving is about.
We put the most unprepared person in charge of training, with no qualifications, no experience, and no proven history apart from passing the same driving test 20+ years ago.
Yet if we did this in any other form of education and training, the operators would be sued. Think I am exaggerating this?
Air services Australia prosecuted
Why choose a professional Driving Instructor
Instead of attempting to do this enormous task yourself. Driving is the most complex of tasks known to us today. It encompasses everything we know about technology, physics, bio dynamics, emotional and attitudinal psychology.
The driver is always responsible: There is a wise saying.” There is no such thing as a bad road, car or conditions. It is the decisions we choose to make and the risk we create, that defines the driving environment
At the end of the day, out of everything you achieve in life, your kids are the number one thing you cannot replace ever. https://www.facebook.com/sharee.campbell/posts/10155426276202448