DRIVING STANDARDS
AGENCY News Release (DSA 33/08) issued by The Government News
Network on 1 August 2008
Improving
standards for professional drivers and increasing road safety
measures mean that bus, coach and lorry drivers will have some
additional theory test questions from August 4.
From August 4 drivers will be tested on 100 questions and need to
correctly answer 85 of the100 to pass the multiple choice part of
the test. Currently drivers get 60 questions and need to score 51
out of 60 to pass. The number of hazard perception clips will also
increase from 14 to 19 and the pass mark will increase from 50 out
of 75, to 67 out of 100.
The other theory test change, which is being made at the request
of the industry, is to split the test into two parts. This will
allow candidates to take the multiple choice element separately
from the hazard perception element; and in either order. This
change aims to avoid potential recruits being put off entering the
industry due to the length of the test as a single event.
The Director of Driver Education and Learning at the Driving
Standards Agency, Jill Lewis, said: "These changes aim to
further improve road safety and driving standards for professional
bus, coach and lorry drivers. The changes represent a step change
in our approach to delivering drivers to the standard needed by
the road freight and passenger transport sectors.'
To accommodate the changes, the cost of the theory test will
increase from £32 to £50 (£35 for the multiple choice test and £15
for the hazard perception test) for those taking their test from
the 4th August. Tests can be booked separately.
This theory test upgrade comes in preparation for the
introduction of the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence
(CPC) which is a qualification aimed at raising the standard of
drivers entering the industry. Driver CPC will be implemented on
September 10 for the bus and coach industry, and September 10 next
year for the lorry industry.
Notes to Editor:
1. The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) is an
executive agency * of the Department for Transport.
2. The DSA's vision is "Safe Driving for Life"
with an overall mission to contribute towards a Government target
of achieving a 40% reduction in riders and drivers killed or
seriously injured in road accidents, in the age group up to 24
years, by 2010.
3. Current information on road casualties is available from the
Department for Transport website: http://www.dft.gov.uk
4. The Agency's aim is to promote road safety through
setting standards for drivers, riders and trainers, testing
drivers and riders fairly and efficiently, maintaining the
registers of Approved Driving Instructors, Large Goods Vehicle
Instructors, Fleet Trainers, Driving Instructor Trainers and Post
Test Motorcycle Trainers, supervising Compulsory Basic Training
for learner motorcyclists and driver education and the provision
of learning resources.
5. DSA is a trading fund * with an expected turnover of around
£199 million for the year 2008/9, fully funded by fee income and
revenue from its activities.
6. DSA employs over 2,700 staff, of which some 2,000 are driving
examiners based at over 400 test centres across mainland Great
Britain. In 2007/2008 the Agency conducted 1.8 million practical
tests for car drivers, over 95,000 vocational tests and 94,000
motorcycle rider tests. A total of 1.7 million theory tests were
carried out at 158 centres. At the end of the year there were
around 43,600 people on the Register of Approved Driving Instructors.
7. DSA was one of the first Government Agencies to introduce an 'online'
8. booking service. Candidates can book and manage their theory
and practical test appointments on line at http://www.direct.gov.uk/drivingtest
* Executive agency:
An executive agency is semi-detached from
its parent department and manages its own budget with freedom from
ad hoc, day to day intervention and much of central,
government-wide regulation. They are run under the organisation
and direction of a Chief Executive recruited through open
competition. An executive agency has accountability for the
performance of specific operational tasks as a corporate unit,
including focused performance targets set by the parent department
and personal accountability of the chief executive for performance.
* Trading Fund:
A trading fund is a means of financing
trading activities
undertaken by Government that would
previously have been financed
by annual appropriation from
Parliament. A trading fund permits the establishment of a
self-accounting unit that remains under the control and management
of Ministers and accountable to Parliament through Ministers, but
has greater freedom to manage its financial affairs. Effectively
that means the trading fund body can use its income to settle its
liabilities and retain year-end cash balances.
Establishing
the trading fund does not alter the Agency's constitutional
position and it remains part of the Department for Transport.