Advice from Disability Driving Instructors for ADIs
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The DVSA has issued a statement in the form of a letter from Lesley Young, Head of Policy and Chief Driving Examiner, on safety aspects of the new practical test, together with a supporting risk assessment document from RoSPA.
Please click here for the letter from Lesley Young.
Please click here for the RoSPA Driving Test Changes Risk Assessment document.
And they’re off! Year 4 of the Big Learner Relay kicked off with a fantastic convoy in Northern Ireland, some wonderful background shots of their handover points.
In case you’re not aware of the Big Learner Relay, some background. It’s all in aid of Children in Need and the brainchild of Louise Walsh, ADI and ADI trainer from Hampshire. It takes the form of a massive relay, with a special yellow Pudsey topbox being passed from learner lesson to lesson on a tour of the UK. From 8 in the morning till 8 at night, Lou and her topbox get passed around in hourly stints, a gruelling schedule for two weeks.
ADIs put spots on their cars and get students, friends and family to sponsor them to raise money. They have raffles, cake sales… whatever they can think of to raise money for a good cause. Then they turn up at their local handover venue and join in the convoy to the next handover, following the lead car and trying to stay together. There are small convoys, and large ones, driving through towns, cities, villages and countryside to deliver Pudsey to his next location.
Lou and Pudsey flew from Northern Ireland to Aberdeen to start day 1 of the mainland relay. Another fantastic day, with wonderful support and photographs. That bear seems to manage to turn up all over the place!
Over two weeks they will travel around 3,000 miles, down the East coast then across to the Midlands, down to the South, on to the South West, then turn northwards again, taking in Wales, finally ending up in Liverpool two weeks later. Phew! Makes you breathless just thinking of it! Something like 190 stops and goodness only knows how many ADIs and learners! There will be police escorts, bikers, learners towing, learners in lorries – endless permutations of every type of learner.
The grand finale on Children in Need day itself will be gathering at Haydock Park racecourse, and then convoying into Knowsley Safari Park for a circuit amongst the animals. And all wrapped up with a safari themed party in the evening.
The Relay is such a happy event in the ADI calendar. It is a real coming-together of people to make the event happen. Because one thing is for sure – without enthusiastic ADIs it wouldn’t! People make new friends, it has become a real ‘family’, social groups are formed, even local associations. Business contacts too. At our local Plymouth fundraising effort this weekend, one ADI said he would pass on surplus enquiries to another who is coming back to learners after a period away. And all because of BLR!
And I should mention that it has raised over £250,000 in 3 years! The BBC have been so impressed that they have allowed BLR to use the Pudsey logo, a rare privilege.
ADINJC is proud to support Big Learner Relay and wishes it every success.
If you would like further information you can check out their website – www.biglearrelay.co.uk. And if you would like to make a donation you can use this link – https://www.biglearnerrelay.co.uk/donate/
The full release can be read here:
The headline figure is a total of 1.792 Road Deaths in 2016 up 4% on the previous year and the highest for 5 years.
This is still far below 3,172 from 2006.
Overall casualties are 3% down.
The DfT report stated the 4% rise in road deaths was ‘not statistically significant’ and was likely due to ‘natural variation’. Stats have been broadly flat-lining since 2010.
We thought you might be interested in some information from Oponeo. They have compiled the latest data on various car-related issues in 12 popular cities in the UK. One of the categories they researched on was road safety and, with London and Belfast at the bottom of the list, Manchester turned out to be a city with the fewest road accidents!
Their comprehensive report includes data on such topics as fuel and insurance costs, parking facilities and traffic congestion. I am positive the learners, future drivers, instructors and the rest of the audience at ADINJC will find the results informative and of interest.
Please click the link to the full report and a map with the scores as references.
We have this afternoon received the following from Jacqui Turland, Registrar –
“Further to my email of 1 September 2017, I wanted to let you know that we have yet to gain Parliamentary approval to introduce the change, but are still hopeful that we will be able to do so by late October.
Having written to all PDIs with a test booked up to 13 October, we will now been contacting all those with a test booked up to 27 October. We’ll be able to give them more options on what they can do, such as postponing their test to a later date or keeping their test date and taking the test in the current format. They’ll be advised to speak to their instructor trainer to discuss the best option for them.
We will also be contacting all those on the Official Register of Instructor Trainers.
I will, of course, update you as and when I have more clarity on an implementation date.”
With less than 3 months to go to until the driving test changes, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has today (13 September 2017) published new videos about the updated ‘show me, tell me’ driving test questions.
During the test, examiners ask candidates two vehicle safety questions – these are known as the ‘show me, tell me’ questions. Currently, both questions are asked at the start of the test, but from 4 December 2017, candidates will have to carry out the ‘show me’ question while they are driving.
DVSA Chief Driving Examiner, Lesley Young, said:
“DVSA’s priority is to help you through a lifetime of safe driving.”
“Asking a ‘show me’ question while driving will be valuable preparation for real life driving.
“With less than 3 months to go until the driving test changes, it’s important that learner drivers work with their driving instructor to make sure they can operate the in car-controls safely whilst they’re driving. Combined with practice with an instructor, these new official videos will help you learn the skills you need to do these tasks.”
The two new videos released by DVSA show how to carry out these basic safety tasks. They will prepare new drivers for regularly carrying them out after they have passed their test, helping them keep their vehicle safe to drive all-year-round.
In the new test, the examiner will ask the ‘tell me’ question (where the candidate explains how they would carry out a safety check) at the start of their test, before they start driving. They include things like explaining how they would check the oil levels for the engine or how to check the tyres are legal and safe.
Then later in the test, the candidate will be asked a ‘show me’ question while they are driving – for example, showing how to wash the windscreen and operate the wipers. The questions test whether candidates can carry out the sort of everyday basic safety tasks drivers need to be able to do while driving.
The agency has also updated its ‘DVSA official guide to learning to drive’ book to include all the new elements of the practical test. This edition will be available to buy from 18 September 2017, from www.safedrivingforlife.info/shop or most online or high street bookshops.
Chair of the steering group for national approved driving instructor associations (NASP), Carly Brookfield, said:
“Whilst in-car, on the road practice with a professional driver trainer is an important part of delivering safer drivers for life to our busy roads, we also recommend the use of supplementary learning resources such as ‘how-to’ videos from authoritative sources in driver education.
“DVSA’s new ‘show me, tell me’ and other recent videos highlighting key developments to the practical driving test are a really helpful resource for learners – not only in preparing them for the new test, but also for a life time of safe driving.”
A video showing how the full test will work from 4 December 2017 is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI08tzIfo4c
If a candidate loses, control of the car whilst answering the ‘show me’ question it will result in a serious or dangerous fault, meaning the candidate fails the test.
A ‘driving fault’ will be incurred by the candidate if they answer both the ‘show me’ and the ‘tell me’ questions incorrectly.
The four changes to the driving test are:
● increasing the independent driving part of the test to 20 minutes
● most candidates will be asked to follow directions from a sat nav
● changing the reversing manoeuvres that are tested
● answering a vehicle safety question while driving
More information about the changes is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/driving-test-changes-4-december-2017
The official DVSA guide to learning to drive book can be bought at https://www.safedrivingforlife.info/shop/product/official-dvsa-guide-learning-drive-book-book for £9.99 (see attached)
Possible Examiner strike action!
Following the announcement that the DVSA are having to delay the introduction of the ADI Part 3 test changes comes news that the PCS is balloting for strikes in DVSA which could cause disruption to driver & vehicle testing.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) operational members at the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, including driving examiners and vehicle testing staff, are due to be balloted from 4th September until the 4th of October for industrial action in a protracted dispute over travel time arrangements, health and safety and other changes to terms and conditions.
There have been talks involving PCS and DVSA since 2015 but the union states that the DVSA and the Department for Transport still refuses to resolve the outstanding issues. Aparently these issues include the new “Sat Nav driving test” but it is not clear what the issues are that PCS has with the revised driving test.
Full details: PCS ballot for strikes in DVSA
The ADINJC is a national association run by ADIs on a not-for-profit basis. We work tirelessly to inform, represent and support our members, and to promote the interests of our profession.
This afternoon the DVSA confirmed that rumors recently circulating across social media regarding the implementation date of the new Part 3 slipping were correct.
The full DVSA blog is here, but they key point is:
We still need to gain parliamentary approval for the timing of the implementation, so the changes won’t be happening on 2 October 2017 as we previously told you.
The changes will still happen, but we’re aiming for later in October as the legislation needs to go before Parliament. We then have to wait a minimum of 21 days till we introduce the change. We’ve only had confirmation this week that we won’t be able to do this in time to meet 2 October.
Anyone with a Part 3 booked in the first two weeks of October will be contacted regarding the options available.
The new ADI part 3 test marking sheet is now also available for download, and there are no surprises, other than administration boxes, the competencies and marking structure is exactly the same as the SC1 form.
It has also been confirmed that the ADI Part 2 test will be changing on December 4th to align with the new learner test. There is no change is legislation needed to alter the Part 2 so it is expected this will take place on schedule.
The NASP statement in response to the news is listed below:
“NASP is disappointed that the implementation of the new Part 3 assessment has been delayed and that the promised deadline will be missed. The lack of notice (with only one month to go to launch) is unhelpful to trainers and candidates who have already had to get up to speed with these changes in a relatively short timescale.
NASP had previously asked DVSA to consider delaying the implementation of the changes to the Part 3 on the basis of a lack of confidence that the agency was at the point of readiness to resource the changes. It is now clear that the agency is not ready for the promised launch date.
Whilst it has been made clear throughout that the launch of the new assessment was subject to a regulatory approval process, we were not advised until today that this would cause a delay at such a late stage.
We have urged DVSA to issue a revised timetable for implementation immediately and ensure candidates and trainers have access to clear advice and support in terms of rescheduling tests booked for October and what their next steps should be. We will keep you updated.
It should be noted that this delay will not affect the introduction of the new driving test on 4 December as those changes do not require parliamentary approval.”
We will continue to keep you updated via our “Newsflash” emails of any further news.
Top 5 reasons ADIs fail their standards check
During your standards check, your examiner will be looking for evidence that you meet the national standard for driver and rider training.
In her first blog post, ADI Registrar, Jacqui Turland, gives you the top 5 reasons why instructors fail their standards check, so you can better prepare yourself for your own.