The Mail Online is reporting that the new driving test, which will be introduced from October 4th, will incorporate a ‘memory’ element that will require the examinee to memorise a route given by an examiner.
The new element to the test will take ten minutes to complete, and will also require the completion of a 5 point, or U-turn during the test. Learner drivers being tested will still be able to ask for the directions to be repeated, or could (in theory at least) stop to ask a passer by the way to get to a certain location. Obviously they could also follow the road signs.
If you ask me, this seems like a rather unfair element to the test and could in fact increase the amount of stress placed on a learner driver. Under test conditions, you already have to perform to a standard – or rather conform to a certain rigid driving style. Having to remember a route spoken to you doesn’t seem particularly fair, when in real life, you could always just backtrack or retrace your route to get there.
Is this element really going to produce better or safer drivers? I really do not believe it will. What I do think should happen is that Pass Plus is made compulsory. It gives new drivers a chance to experience different roads and driving conditions with a skilled examiner in the car, without the pressure of the test. This in theory at least should produce a better standard of driver, rather than simply forcing them to sit yet another test element!
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