Driving Instructors in Northern Ireland want MOT for Drivers every 10 years

An interesting idea put forward by driving instructors in Northern Ireland. Book Theory Test Today investigates.

A fresh assessment of a driver’s ability every 10 years would improve safety on Northern Ireland’s roads, according to the country’s driving instructors. The opinion of the National Driving Instructors National Association Council (NDINAC) comes as government ministers look to reduce the current legal driving age from 17 to 16-and-a-half.

Instructors would like to see drivers in a classroom every 10 years to take a new theory test and receive fresh driver training.

Examiners in Northern Ireland think that implementing such a system will stop motorists falling into bad habits.

The Book Theory Test Today blogger says: “Aside from introducing a driver MOT scheme, instructors in Northern Ireland also voiced concerned that learner motorists are not trained or assessed for motorway driving accept for a couple of questions on the theory test.”

They argue that the government has not really looked into motorway crash statistics involving inexperienced drivers, but if they did they would probably find the numbers quite high.

Reducing the legal driving age will have no impact

Chairperson of the NDINAC, Tom Burns, was expressing the views of his organisation during a meeting with the Assembly committee, which is vigorously pursuing a reduction to the driver age limit.

Addressing committee members, Mr Burns said: “There is no scientific or safety information that reducing the minimum age to 16-and-a-half will have any benefit. We think that it is a total waste of time.”

Mr Burns added that his entire organisation backs proposals to see a driver MOT introduced in Northern Ireland.

He said: “Every driver should have to come back for some sort of classroom training. Why not do it when the licence is due for renewal, every 10 years?”

The Book Theory Test Today blogger says: “In principle, this is a great idea. The question is though, how do instructors propose the government pays for this scheme?

Would motorists have to pay to be reassessed? Would road taxes be increased? These are questions the motoring public would ask, and although this is in the interests of improving road safety in the country, if drivers have to suffer the financial burden to put such a scheme into action, the plan looks far less appealing.”

Furthermore, the idea of drivers having to retake a theory test or undergo classroom training after 10 years of driving will not be received well by some of the motoring public.

Are you a driver in Northern Ireland? What’s your view? Leave Book Theory Test Today a comment.

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Tags: UK driving law

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014 at 9:38 pm and is filed under UK Driving Law. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.