Newslink February 2021

Comment
PLAN B
PLAN A
Time to show us your
Plan B, DVSA
Rod Came
MSA South East
“I
am pleased to tell you that
you have...” Those words
are said by DVSA examiners
to the 46 per cent of car
driving test candidates who
actually pass their test, and must be
music to their ears. They mean so many
things to different people: freedom,
employment, status even.
Unfortunately, those words have been
in very short supply in the last 10
months. The pandemic has reduced the
provision of driving tests to a microscopic
minimum. Many people have suffered,
their dreams of freedom, aspirations of
employment have all but disappeared.
It is understandable that DVSA had to
suspend driving tests while the country is
in lockdown. Their examiners are as
susceptible to catching Covid-19 as the
rest of the population, especially within
the confines of a car.
However, at some time in the future
driving tests will have to resume, the
current situation in relation to tests and
Covid-19 cannot go on for ever. It’s
needless to say that, if there has been
any thought put to this by the DVSA, it is
a closely guarded secret. It need not be.
If there is a Plan B we as driver trainers
need to know what it is. Unfortunately,
because of the lack of information, the
only conclusion that can be drawn is that
there is no Plan B.
The system for the provision of driving
tests cannot continue in the same
manner as it has done in the past. It was
quite simply not suitable for purpose. It
did not work.
I have been in the industry for 40
years. For almost all of that time there
have been totally unacceptable waiting
times for being able to take a car driving
test. At the worst of times candidates
were having to wait for nearly a year, and
similar for a re-test. Occasionally the
availability became more accessible in
some parts of the country, but still
remained stubbornly high for most
people.
You do not have to be Einstein to
foresee that there will be a colossal
demand for both driving lessons and
tests as soon as it is decreed that the
populace can move about freely: the dam
will burst.
When tests became more available last
year it was understandable that
examiners were reluctant to deliver them,
as the risk of contracting the virus had
not gone away. The effect on the waiting
list was minimal, at best. If DVSA thinks
that resuming test appointment dates in
the same manner as before is
acceptable, then it has to be said here
and now that it is not. Change has to
happen. The old system is irreparably
broken.
There have been various suggestions
made to avoid the impending implosion
of the test waiting system – bringing
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NEWSLINK n FEBRUARY 2021