* Id: DrivingTest * Revision: 1 * State: submitted * * Log: * Revision 1 1997/11/18 Carol Orwin * Initial submitted version. This was stuck in the system for a long * time. It was originally distributed to editor 13, but then * redistributed to trainee editor Tony Blews. * * Checked-out 2000/03/10 Roel van der Meulen carol.orwin@lgeenergy.com Tue Nov 18 15:13:18 1997 Roel, I've saved this as text-only - if it still isn't readable please let me know and I'll try again! I also have options for saving as MS-DOS text with or without line breaks, and will be glad to do that if it's more convenient. Carol > ---------- > From: Roel van der Meulen[SMTP:vdmeulen@strw.LeidenUniv.nl] > Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 1997 8:32 AM > To: carol.orwin@lgeenergy.com > Subject: Re: article > > Hi Carol, > > Thanks for your article submission! > Unfortunately I don't have the means to read rtf files here. > Could you somehow convert is to plain ASCII, with no control > commands in it? It would really ease the editor's work a lot. > > Thanks, > Roel van der Meulen > (PGG article distributor) > ------ =_NextPart_000_01BCF402.18A2B6C0 Content-Type: text/plain; name="guide1.txt" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="guide1.txt" The Driving Test as a Budget-Balancing Measure: a comparative study Driving in the U.S. is not a privilege - it is a right and a necessity, = at least to anyone interested in making a living or finding a grocery = store, a mate, or a good party. So on moving to the U.K. I approached = the driving test with the laughably na=EFve notion that ten years' = flawless driving experience indicated a basic ability to drive. Let's = examine some of the fundamental differences I was overlooking. In the U.S., driving tests are administered by each state; in the U.K. = a national driving standards agency controls testing. To anyone = looking merely at relative country size, this may seem like an = immaterial difference, but such an inference couldn't be more wrong. = Obviously, a national test allows for the inclusion of requirements = that are utterly irrelevant to the driver's actual conditions = (three-point turns not being extremely practical on the 1-in-4 gradient = which constituted a gentle slope in our bit of the Lake District), but = more important is the mere psychological effect on government workers = of belonging to a national agency. I believe firmly that, had the DVLA = been simply a regional agency, they could never have achieved the = astounding levels of unresponsiveness and caprice which I observed with = awe. In four short months I saw waiting periods for the test increase = from one to six months after the introduction of a written test (which = of course required entirely separate facilities, staff, and fees to = administer), then saw the pass rate for the written test raised because = "too many people were passing first time." Bear in mind that this was = supplementary activity which the vigilant agency staff appended to = their ordinary duties of losing documents and inputting erroneous = information into outmoded computer systems. I welcome the chance to = recognize publicly the agency's devotion to duty. I had also reckoned without the sheer moral grit of the average Briton. = We Americans not only expect to be allowed to drive, but to do so in = cars with automatic transmissions and four wheels, on roads that are = straight, car sized, and occasionally not under repair. And on top of = all these advantages, we have the gall to require traffic signals to = tell us when it's our turn. The mentality of the British driver is = much tougher. He considers that the only true way to get top = performance from his vehicle is to kit it out with a manual gear box = and head at full speed for the open road - "open road," in local = parlance, being that asphalted cattle track which constitutes a major = thoroughfare by virtue of having two lanes filled with parked cars. He = prizes the sense of oneness with his car which he maintains by having = to shift down and back up at each traffic island. (For the = uninitiated, traffic islands facilitate the movement of vehicles from = one road to another by bringing together four or more cars in a circle = and declaring that "the one on the right has the right of way." This = creates universal amusement at rush hour(s) as traffic progression is = turned into one big game of chicken). Since the traffic islands are = conveniently placed about five meters apart, the driver's communion = with the car can proceed virtually uninterrupted for as long as his = nerve holds. =20 With road conditions like this, driving examiners elsewhere might let = the applicant slide by on merely driving safely and competently. Not = the fine folks of the DVLA. For these tireless pickers of nits, = parking parallel in the designated space without hitting anything is = secondary to ending with one's wheels pointing straight ahead and not = signaling unnecessarily. Pureeing a passing dog is a bit naughty, but = lifting a hand from the steering wheel while turning constitutes = immediate failure and may lead to incarceration. Driving recklessly = can lead to failure, as can driving too timidly. Failure to move "far = enough" to the side of the lane before turning is considered slightly = more serious than extending a wing mirror into oncoming traffic. Compared with the arbitrary and Byzantine requirements of the test, the = structure of the appeals process is refreshingly simple. When a = complaint is received, the regional supervisor taking the offending = examiner to the pub and helps him explain why actions that could appear = inappropriate, like shouting at other drivers, were really in the = highest spirit of professionalism. The examiner, in turn, assists the = supervisor in drafting a reply along the lines of "Your complaint must = be invalid and uninformed, because you failed the test." The test = certificate states that one should have legal advice, a great deal of = spare time, and an expectation of failure before challenging the = results of a driving test. I would respectfully suggest the additional = stipulation of a stockpile of Tagamet the size of Roseanne's butt. The benefits of the British model are incalculable. First, of course, = there is the revenue stream. Retest fees are only a small part of the = fiscal benefits of the system. In reality the taxes that flow into the = national coffers from driving instructors' earnings, and the increased = consumption of petrol and beer by aspiring drivers, provide a much = greater boost to the economy. =20 There are intangible benefits as well. Sociologists theorize that one = reason postal workers in Britain have not adopted their American = counterparts' career-progression strategy (running amok with a = high-powered rifle) is that they've all joined the DVLA instead, = thereby allowing their psychotic impulses to be channeled into socially = acceptable activity. And most important, let's not overlook the = psychological benefit to the driving population of knowing that anyone = who's passed the British driving test must be a rational and thoroughly = competent driver. I accept that this can lead to unfortunate = consequences around Birmingham during rush hour, when all these careful = and competent drivers attempt to push one another off the same = four-mile stretch of expressway between 5:00 and 5:07; but I maintain = that knowing one is always right can only be good for a driver, and can = only be produced by a test such as that which the DVLA has carefully = crafted and honed with such precision. We in the States would do well = to adopt similar procedures with all haste. =20 ------ =_NextPart_000_01BCF402.18A2B6C0--