As the dust settles on the UK’s decision to leave the EU, many are asking what effect this will have on driver training and testing in the UK and on road safety matters in general.
The simple answer is probably nothing this week, next week or even next month, but fairly soon there will have to be discussions about how we move forwards on a whole variety of issues.
Exactly how we will set about disentangling UK law from EU Regulations; Directives; Decisions; Recommendations and Opinions will probably keep an army of lawyers and civil servants busy for years. Here are my thoughts on some of the challenges ahead.
Road Signs
Despite an apparent uniformity and standardisation, European traffic signs do present differences between countries. Most European countries refer to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals — however, neither Moldova, Spain or the UK has signed up so we are already free to adopt whatever signs we like.
Road Traffic
Road traffic is governed by the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic and was ratified at the same time as the traffic sign convention. The Road Traffic Convention is designed to facilitate international road traffic and to increase road safety by establishing standard traffic rules among those signed up.
One of the main benefits of the convention for motorists is the obligation on signatory countries to recognise the legality of vehicles from other signatory countries. The USA and China are the most notable examples of non-signatory countries. However, the UK, along with most other countries in the world is signed up and leaving the EU won’t change that.
Driver Licensing
As I understand it, pretty much all of our driving licence regulations are based on the minimum standards set by EU directives. On 19 January 2013 the European Union Third Directive on driving licences came into force and all new driving licences from that date had to meet the terms of the directive. On that date a new licence design was issued, quite why we then had another new design from 6 February 2014 I never quite understood.
My licence is the latest (no counterpart) design with a UK and an EU flag on the front. I guess we will soon see the EU flag disappear and possibly the UK one as well if Scotland decides to leave the Union – does that mean we end up with a red and white flag, perhaps, with a dragon to replace the Saltire? Who knows.
A number of people I have seen on the TV who voted to leave the EU want to return things to how they used to be, so that could mean we lose a number of pieces of legislation, regulations and directives.
For instance, we could lose driving licence Categories and return to Groups. Some readers will remember pre-1986 when Category B was Group A and all holders of a Group A licence could drive most four wheel vehicles, including those between 3,500kg and 7,500kg carrying no more than eight passengers plus driver, with a trailer over 750kg providing the combined vehicle and trailer weight was not more than 12,000kg. Such vehicles are now covered by Category C1E (with restriction code 79 or 107). – Confused? I certainly am.
What of the future and the way that changes in technology might result in how we treat categories or groups as we move towards even more autonomous vehicles. Will the UK go it alone on licensing or continue to follow the EU lead? If we go it alone on licensing will manufacturers have to build completely different managememht systems for UK-bound cars, as they do with steering systems geared for right-hand drive?
If the EU decides it will allow certain systems will the UK now bar those from entering the UK? if the UK decides to embrace auto systems before the EU, will we now face a ban on those cars crossing the Channel?
Driving licence exchange
Exchanging a foreign driving licence has always been allowed with certain countries. Currently this involves any EU member or any one of 17 other designated countries. That might change in the future; there has long been a clamour to allow citizens from some USA states to be able to exchange their licence for a UK one and we might look “across the pond” for other road safety ideas.
Depending on the US state, learner permits are issued between the ages of 14 and 16. That could bring a boost to the learner driver market.
Driving Tests
Practical driver testing in EU countries does comply with minimum standards but that does not mean all the tests are similar. Examining just one aspect of the driving test reveals a range of differences between EU member states.
How long does a car driving-test last? In Great Britain it is around 40 minutes; in Denmark, 45 minutes; in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Norway, about 50, 60 and 75 minutes respectively. It would seem that while inside the EU the UK could have lengthened the time allowed for a driving test; now with the pressure on driving test waiting times, we could halve the time on test and double the number of test slots overnight.
That would certainly help with the waiting lists although it would not do much to lower the collision liability of new young drivers.
Then, of course, there is the theory test. There is no requirement to keep that now we are outside the EU and it is worth remembering that the UK was one of the last countries in Europe to introduce one. I recall an argument I had with the then Secretary of State for Transport in John Major’s government Brian Mawhinney who refused to introduce a theory test.
Now we have one of the most sophisticated theory tests in Europe, particularly on the hazard perception front. I’m not sure many road safety practitioners would want to scrap it now
Driving Instruction
Regulation of ADIs is not covered directly by EU regulation but there are parts of the EU that influence how the ADI Register is run in the UK. A recently published report on “the mutual evaluation of regulated professions an overview of the regulatory framework in the transport sector by using the example of driving instructors” states that
“the Commission would like to – improve access to professions and to facilitate the mobility of qualified professionals within the internal market as well as the cross-border provision of professional services, a more flexible and transparent regulatory environment in Member States, should also have a positive impact on the employment situation, in particular for young people.”
This would mean qualified instructors from across the EU could happily take up a similar role in the UK.
In practice this has happened already, with some ADIs from outside these shores given access to the register. They invariably find themselves receiving a standards check fairly swiftly to confirm competence. – Presumably the UK can now ignore this report, or can it?
We will know more when we better understand what the UK’s relationship with the EU is going to be in the future. Are we going to want to be part of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which would allow us membership of the European Economic Area (EEA) that includes EU countries and also Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway? This allows them to be part of the EU’s single market but requires that they allow the free movement of persons, goods, services and capital within the internal market of the EU.
Switzerland is neither an EU nor EEA member but is part of the single market – this means Swiss nationals have the same rights to live and work in the UK as other EEA nationals.
As the free movement of persons has been one of the principal reasons the UK is leaving the EU, neither the EFTA model or the agreements negotiated by Switzerland are likely to be appealing, one would expect.
As the UK takes back control of matters including road safety we may well see a lower consumption of mussels in Brussels by UK civil servants but a greater need for the UK to develop policies that provide high quality road safety for this country.
That this comes at a time when Government appears to be taking a back seat when it comes to road safety, with fewer RSOs at local level, no overarching targets for reductions in driving casualty figures and no firm belief that the DfT has a brief to deliver substantive reductions in KSI statistics, is unfortunate. – Perhaps the time is ripe for Westminster to step up to the plate?
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