Emergency stops on the practical driving test, once the bane of nervous learner drivers, could be almost phased out if a new DVSA pilot scheme is successful.
Under the new test regime being trialled for three months at 20 locations across the country, the number of tests where the examiner utters the infamous instruction to “stop as quickly and safely as possible” – in the old days often accompanied by a smart whack of the examiner’s clipboard across the dashboard – could be reduced to just one in every seven.
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The emergency stop has been part of the UK driving test since its inception in 1935. Back then, being able to slow a vehicle safely with the feeble brakes and skinny tyres of the day was an essential skill, and a potential life-saver. Nowadays, the ubiquity of anti-lock braking and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems on modern cars may mean drivers no longer need to hone their skills for stopping safely. However, this is the first time the emergency stop element of the driving test has been reviewed since the fitting of ABS became mandatory on new cars in 2004.
While some might take issue with that suggestion that stopping quickly is no longer an essential driving skill, the DVSA is nonetheless moving its focus towards what it considers to be more real-world challenges such as driving on roads with faster traffic.
