BackDriving tests turn 75
The driving test turns 75 years old today, but is there cause for celebration?
On the 1st June 1935, Mr J. Beene paid the equivalent of 37p to be the first person in the UK to take his driving test.
The Pedestrians Association, as we were then known, led the public campaign that resulted in the introduction of the first ever driving test. 75 years on, we’re calling on the Government to do more to raise drivers’ awareness of pedestrians and cyclists.
The year before Mr J. Beene took his test, road related deaths were at their highest. With only 2.4 million vehicles on the roads, of which 1.5 million were cars, 7,343 people were killed in Britain in 1934.
Surprisingly, when there are now over 34 million cars on the road and streets are increasingly used as traffic corridors, the driving test has ‘remained unchanged’ according to the Driving Standards Agency.
Perhaps this explains the shocking Government statistics that over half of today’s drivers (52%) don’t understand how traffic light sequences work. 39 per cent incorrectly expect a green light to appear after the amber light. And seven per cent mistakenly think that green and amber lights will appear together, while six per cent think it will be the red and amber signal.
Responding to these figures, Living Streets chief executive Tony Armstrong says "We are concerned at the poor level of knowledge of drivers. Almost one in five pedestrians who are knocked down are using a pedestrian crossing. We need urgent action to reduce this number. "We would like to see improved driver training and awareness campaigns, a review of penalties for bad driving and cycling and better enforced traffic laws."
“We would also like the Government to rethink how it views Britain’s streets, as not just traffic corridors, but as safe and attractive places that can be enjoyed by people as well as get traffic from A to B.”
Published on: 01/06/2010
