INDEPENDENT DRIVING
As of the 4th of October 2010 the practical Driving Test will include an 'Independent Driving' element where candidates will be asked to follow road signs and road markings to a destination or until further notice, ie. "follow the ringroad to Warminster". This part of the test will last for approximately ten minutes. Also as of this date candidates will only be asked to carry out one manoeuvre instead of the current two.The number of test routes will be reduced from seventeen to twelve.
WHY IN BRITAIN DO WE DRIVE ON THE LEFT?
About a quarter of the world drives on the left, and the countries that do are mostly old British colonies.
Japan also drives on the left.
Up to the late 1700's, everybody travelled on the left side of the road because it's the sensible option for feudal, violent societies of mostly right-handed people.Jousting knights with their lances under their right arm naturally passed on each other's right, and if you passed a stranger on the road you walked on the left to ensure that your protective sword arm was between yourself and him.
Revolutionary France, however, overturned this practice as part of its sweeping social rethink. A change was carried out all over continental Europe by Napoleon.The reason it changed under Napoleon was because he was left handed his armies had to march on the right so he could keep his sword arm between him and any opponent.
From then on, any part of the world which was at some time part of the British Empire was thus left hand and any part colonised by the French was right hand.
In America, the French colonised the southern states (Louisiana for instance) and the Canadian east coast (Quebec). The Dutch colonised New York (or New Amsterdam). The Spanish and Portugese colonised the southern Americas. So The British were a minority in shaping the 'traffic'.
The drive-on-the-right policy was adopted by the USA, which was anxious to cast off all remaining links with its British colonial past
Once America drove on the right, left-side driving was ultimately doomed. If you wanted a good reliable vehicle, you bought American, for a period they only manufactured right-hand-drive cars.From then on many countries changed out of necessity.
Today, the EC would like Britain to fall into line with the rest of Europe, but this is no longer possible. It would cost billions of pounds to change everything round.
The last European country to convert to driving on the right was Sweden in 1967. While everyone was getting used to the new system, they paid more attention and took more care, resulting in a reduction of the number of road accident casualties.
THE DRIVING TEST
The first driving tests were introduced in 1935. When the initial 250 examiners set about making the fist test bookings, the norm was to pre-arrange a meeting with candidates at car parks, railway stations or other landmarks, as test centres didn't exist. In the early days examiners regularly conducted 16 tests each day.
STOPPING DISTANCES AND RELATIVE SPEEDS
The chart below has been compiled by Sussex Police and kindly supplied by the D.I.A
.
Did You Know ?
This website and its content are for information only and must not be used or copied without authorization from South Wilts Driving Tuition.All rights reserved.