Driving test classes are great addition to driver training, especially for theElderly when their freedom is at risk.

Betty Berry, a senior advocate for Senior Concerns, will present “Will You Pass Your Next Driving Test?” on Monday at the Moorpark Active Adult Center.

“I started this seminar about five years ago and do it every other month at different senior centers, and sometimes seniors would come up to me upset because they didn’t pass the test,” said Berry of Thousand Oaks. “I thought that they haven’t been to school in a long time and maybe they didn’t remember how to study, and the questions can be a little confusing. So basically in this class I will help assure them that they can pass this test.”

The offering is valuable considering the fact that more people are living longer, said Steven Scrivens, recreation leader at the Moorpark Active Adult Center.

“With the more mature population, keeping as much independence as they can is a big deal, so having the capability and knowledge to pass the test and continue to have that freedom is the most important thing,” Scrivens said.

The free presentation will focus on how to study for the written Department of Motor Vehicles test. It will include sample questions for attendees to practice and Berry explains what will happen in the test-taking process.

She emphasizes that the DMV is not a place to be feared.

“The DMV wants them to pass but they have to take the responsibility to study,” she said.

She recommends people study for at least a month before taking the test, and for no more than 30 minutes at a time.

Berry will also address what to do if you are required to take a road test.

“If you’re really nervous, I suggest you go to a driving school and take a couple of lessons to get your confidence up,” Berry said.

Other portions of the event will focus on when a person should consider no longer driving.

“If they’re finding a lot of people are blowing horns at them, if they’re having trouble seeing the street signs, if they’re getting confused or having trouble turning their necks — or if they find themselves driving over the line — maybe it’s time.”

Let me know what you think by e:mail at javez.khan@hotmail.co.ul 

DO EXAMINERS PLAY THE NUMBER OF PASSES GAME?

I'm very used to being asked certain questions regarding the driving test. One of those regularly asked questions is; can driving examiners only pass a certain number of driving tests a week? I could just answer this with a simple yes or no, however that would lead to a very short article and may not completely convince you. So let's look at some facts.

The average (overall) pass rate for UK driving test centers is normally around 30-40%. However if you look around the country you will find widely differing pass rates. These differences may be due to the difficulty of the roads or volume of traffic near to the test center. Also the affluence of an area can make a difference, as the learners may be able to afford more lessons prior to taking their driving test.

Here are a couple of examples:
-Birmingham (Kings Heath) a very busy area, has a pass rate of 30.13% for the year 2007-2008.
-Gairloch (Highlands, Scotland) a rural area, which for the same period had a pass rate of 70.59%.

If there were driving test pass limits, then shouldn't they have the same pass rate? Now the question has possibly changed to have particular test centers got set driving test pass limits? However, as is often the case, there may be some, if possibly only small, element of truth about driving test pass limits.

First imagine you are a driving examiner. You know that over the course of any given week/month or even year, the test centers pass rate is normally around 45-50%. However you know that you have recently been passing a lot higher % than this. This may lead you, or senior examiners to wonder if you are marking the tests differently to the other examiners at the same test center. The examiner may, in this instance decide to adjust their marking slightly as they believe they are being too lenient. This does not however mean failing someone who has done nothing wrong. Instead it may be that in a slightly grey area, which could be either a driving fault or possibly a serious/failure mark, the examiner decides to be stricter and puts down as a failure mark!

Please remember that this is only my opinion; however it is one gained from experience, having listened to a great number (hundreds) of debriefs at the end of the driving test, as well as sitting in the back during dozens of tests over the years. So what do I mean by grey areas and how can you avoid them? Grey areas will be situations where different people could view the learner's actions differently, such as one person/examiner feeling that a learner is traveling slightly too close to parked cars and another simply too close. It is down to the examiner's own perception of the situation and, as in most situations this can be slightly different from person to person.

So how can a learner avoid falling the wrong side of this decision? Well the obvious answer is to drive correctly. However one of the key areas to look at is what the examiner believes the learner's attitude is to their driving and other road users. If the learner appears to be trying to drive well, using good observation, planning well ahead and considering other road users, then the examiner is much more likely to give the learner the benefit of the doubt if there is a decision to make. In conclusion, if the learner drives correctly then they will pass the driving test and they don't need to worry about possible driving test pass limits. The better prepared the learner is the greater their chances are of passing the driving test.

What do you think- I would love to receive your comments?

Please contact me at javez.khan@hotmail.co.uk or phone me on 0781 5898318, my website is www.javezkhan.com (and its being updated)

Thanks

Javez Khan