DRIVER TRAINING

Publication date: 23 June 2009

Education: the key to further safety progress 

Driver education is an important issue for motoring and touring clubs. It is seen by many as the key to gaining further progress in terms of road safety. A number of FIA member clubs offer driver training to their members and some of them even run driving schools as part of their core business. While commercial aspects can play an important role in getting involved in driver training, driver education has always occupied a key position in clubs’ policies relating to their road safety work.

Driver training is hardly harmonised in any respect across Europe. OTA, the FIA’s central information database, provides up to date information on licence requirements where known, for all of Europe (see table). According to Danièle Tomkins, FIA Administrator of OTA “Not only do basic legal requirements vary markedly in countries, including minimum ages for taking the test, so do other conditions such as whether or not theory is tested and whether lessons at a driving school are compulsory.” She also added, “The number of hours of compulsory lessons, too, varies widely from 0 - in those countries without compulsory lessons - to 35 to 37 hours in Slovakia.”

In order to get a better overview of driver education requirements and club involvement in driver training the FIA European Bureau is currently conducting a survey of European clubs. The data collected will feed into an EU consultation on driver training (see below).

Education: Potential for reducing road deaths

Novice Drivers

In the interim, a few clubs were interviewed to get a flavour of their views. Clearly leading the discussion was Austria's ÖAMTC. The club successfully argued for an additional post-test training requirement for all new drivers. The aim was to drastically reduce the number of deaths amongst young drivers. Since 2003, after passing the initial driving test, novices must now take a further three "post- initial licence" training sessions at three month intervals. The ÖAMTC points to the new law for reducing deaths by up to 34% among young male new drivers. Accidents in this group fell by 28%. If the post-test training courses are not followed then the novice driver can lose his/her license in Austria.

Lifelong Learning

Christian Scholly, Deputy Director General of France's Automobile Club responsible for legal affairs, is very much for greater harmonization. "We also need lifelong training courses for drivers," said Scholly, also chair of FIA Region One's legal & consumer affairs commission. He points to Austria and Switzerland as good examples where post-test driving courses are now compulsory. "This is the next step forward in improving road safety, especially for young drivers," said Scholly. "We are lobbying the French transport ministry. They recognize that we could obtain better road safety results with post-test training for drivers. This would be an important step for Europe," said Scholly.  

Dealing with adverse weather conditions

Less convinced is Egil Otter from Norway's NAF, even if he also sees the need for more harmonization - in principle. "But we have to take account of our different conditions, especially in winter," said Otter pointing to the need for driver training on slippery surfaces in Scandinavia. Otter sees the need for harmonizing in terms of the level of theory and practice as well as advanced training and night/dark driving.

Otter is certainly not in favour of making it obligatory to follow driving courses with professional trainers. "In Norway we have plenty of space and open roads. That's makes it easy to get as much experience as possible," said Otter. He calls for more inspection of driving schools due to increased competition between them and a tendency to cut down on number of minutes in lessons. "We are not happy with the quality," said Otter. On the other hand, Otter is happy with Norway's system of traffic education for children. "Children are taught how to behave on school buses, crossing streets, wearing reflective devices and so on. In Norway, school children always have backpacks with reflective pads. That's something to export," said Otter. 

Harmonization

Dutch club ANWB sees harmonization of driver training systems as a good long term objective. "First of all we need to harmonize traffic systems in the EU such as road signing and the design of roads. We expect that this will take many years," says Markus van Tol from ANWB. Like most clubs, the ANWB is for more traffic education at school. Driving instructors, too, should undergo continuing professional development according to the ANWB.   Danny Smagghe, from Belgium's Touring club, is also in favour of greater harmonization of driver training systems. "Harmonization would be a good thing," he said. Smagghe criticizes recent legislative changes in Belgium that allow non-professional driver trainers, for instance family, to tutor potential drivers for the test. "You need a professional education before getting on the road," said Smagghe. He also wants to see the EU move towards mandatory traffic education at school. "It should not be practical information, only theoretical," said Smagghe.

Fixing a minimum age of 21?

Like others, Smagghe is against lifting the minimum driving age to 21, seeing better and more professional driver training as the way forward. "Since the change in the law, young people have been dying because they have not been trained by professionals." Finally, he believes e-learning should be promoted by the EU. "This would help people prepare before actually getting on to the road. Perhaps the EU could decide on general standards and then leave it to the member states to decide for themselves," said Smagghe. 

Lluis Puerto, road safety manager at the RACC in Barcelona, believes that driver training systems should be harmonized in the EU. He even goes further arguing that penalties, in addition to driver training, should be harmonized. "Mobility at the EU level is a fact. The more harmonized driver training and penalty systems are, the better," said Puerto. However, he stops short of calling for mandatory traffic education at school, even if he sees benefits. "Member states should have more leeway when defining to which extent traffic education should be compulsory. And if not made compulsory, then traffic education should be an extra subject that children take if they want," said Puerto.  Puerto is also not for setting a higher minimum age for solo driving at 21 years old. "If 21 were to be set then we would have mobility problems as people become independent at the age of 16. Setting the minimum age at 21 would have to be accompanied by other measures of guaranteeing the mobility of young people," said Puerto, who favours leaving the age limit at 18. "Another major issue is when to stop people driving as they get older and fatality rates go up. But the elderly people also have rights to mobility," said Puerto. He also calls for more lifelong learning, whether for trainers or drivers.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION CONSULTS ON DRIVER TRAINING 

The European Commission is currently consulting stakeholders - until 31 July 2009 - on driver training and traffic safety education, a major area for road safety. The EU's objective is to establish a better framework so as to help further define guidelines and recommendations. The Commission is concentrating on novice drivers, while also encouraging drivers to continue formal life-long learning once they have passed their test. Young novice drivers, obviously, are the group most at risk and the Commission recognizes that investment in such drivers is most worthwhile. These are ideas that many clubs can endorse.  The Commission also recognizes evidence showing that one of the main causes of accidents is drivers' lack of experience and insight into the risks of driving. "The driver training models that currently exist in the Member States often focus on driving techniques and the use of vehicle. External factors such as goals behind driving objectives, the driving context and personal motives are rarely considered," believes the Commission. "Yet, these personal and contextual factors play an important role in the road user's behaviour." 

The EU's Third Driving License Directive, which was adopted in 2006, will enter into force from 2013 onwards. The EU law should lead to greater harmonization of the driving test within the European Union. The argument is that as the standards required to obtain a driving license still vary between the Member States, this negatively affects road safety.

The consultation is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/consultations/2009_06_22_training_education_en.htm

For more information click here:  driver_training.pdf (11.8 KB)