Under a scheme to improve road safety in the UK, the Department for Transport is considering allowing learner drivers to experience motorway driving ahead of taking their test.
Learners are currently forbidden from motorways altogether. The only motorway driver training course, Pass Plus, is not permitted until after drivers have passed their test.
The Department for Transport is to be abolished, read more here
The proposed change in the law would allow learners onto the motorway before passing their test, but only in a dual-controlled car with an approved instructor alongside them. The proposed scheme aims to make newly-qualified drivers safer when venturing out onto the motorway alone.
However, there are no plans to make motorway driving part of the mandatory test route at present. Motorway training would only be voluntary, offering an added opportunity to learner drivers to gain experience, rather than being a necessity of gaining a driving licence.
The RAC welcomes the news, but argues that the proposal doesn't go far enough. It believes motorway driving should be compulsory in lessons and during the driving test. A 2014 survey conducted by the group revealed that 86% of learners wanted motorway training as a compulsory part of their driving lessons. The same survey found that lessons on driving in the dark and in adverse weather were similarly popular.
Join the debate
Add your comment
Should be mandatory
Glacial progress...
So disappointing the glacial rate at which this issue is being fixed. And the costs of the accident investigations, clear-up, and medical care are borne by the tax payer.
Distance to test centre and/or motorway should not come into it. Safety first. Personal convenience second.
And the other three quarters...
It has to be asked, of course, what will be done to remedy the three quarters of motorway accidents, involving drivers above age 24....
Sounds like there is scope for re-tests, including motorway driving as mandatory.
Someone needs a map of the country.
Motorway testing can never be mandatory with the current distribution of motorways. My nearest driving test centre is in Suffolk, which is hardly remote. I think the nearest section of motorway is ninety miles away from the centre, a good two hour drive one way.