The Problem Of Illegal Learner’s Licence Test Questions
Is It Time To Involve The Public Protector?
It would seem that a full-blown investigation is now warranted into the whole arena of obtaining a learner’s licence and a driving licence.
The learner’s licence tests, besides containing what one can call ‘illegal’ questions, tests the candidates in such a factually pedantic manner rather than in a manner that would help the would-be learner drivers to understand the rules of the road and what is required of them while driving, in order to be a safe driver.
The official Learner’s Licence test include questions that are not part of the official syllabus as stipulated in The South African National Road Traffic Act. They can therefore be considered as illegal, and anyone who fails the test because of this is being unfairly and illegally punished at their own financial and time expense. Some of the questions the public is complaining about have nothing at all to do with the rules of the road, but are about the legal requirements in regard to vehicle specifications.
If the Department of Transport feels strongly that some of the vehicle specifications and other non-syllabus laws should be known before obtaining a driving licence, then there can be another test for that as part of the driving licence pre-test, the syllabus of which must be spelled out in the Act.
Some of those items, however, do not even need to be tested, in my opinion. When a licenced learner driver later passes the driving licence test, they could be provided with a pamphlet of a few pages that sets out the legal requirements for those vehicle items. The cost of the pamphlet could be built into the prices of the driving licence. This would be far less expensive than having to re-do the learner’s licence after wrongly being caused to fail it, sometimes up to three or more times.
If every candidate who obtains a driving licence is given such a pamphlet with their licence, then they cannot complain about not having been aware of the requirements of the law. Surely that is all that is needed? Why do they need to be tested on it? And why would the need to be tested at the Learner’s Licence test stage?
Learner’s licence test items not in the syllabus
For example, these items should not even be in the learner’s licence test:
- Lamps regulations
- Reflectors regulations
- Chevrons regulations
- Tyres regulations
- Seat belts regulations
- Projection limits regulations
- Warning markings in respect of projected loads
- The maximum distance ahead that the headlights dipped beam may touch the road surface
- The minimum distance for which the hooter must be audible
- What a motorist must do in the event of an ‘accident’ (collision)
- The minimum permissible width of a motorcycle’s handlebars
- The maximum permissible height of a motorcycle’s handlebars above the seat level
- Specifications for yellow reflective tape down the side of a vehicle
- Why the engine must be covered
- and so on.
It seems that the DoT have, for years, missed the point that a person needs a learner’s licence in order to take lessons with a suitably qualified, licenced driving instructor. At the time of taking that test they have possibly not even sat behind the wheel of a vehicle. A learner driver, and a learner’s licence candidate, are not responsible for the roadworthiness of the vehicle they’re learning in, and whether or not its physical specifications meet the requirements of the law (which are not part of the Rules of the Road on which the test is supposed to be set).
Once they have obtained a learner’s licence, they must be accompanied by a suitably qualified licenced driver at all times while learning and while practising. That is the person who must ensure that the vehicle is roadworthy and law-compliant.
The official learner’s licence syllabus obviously recognises this, and so those items are therefore not specified in the Act as being part of the syllabus on what the Learner’s Licence test is meant to be based.
I note too that the Act requires the candidate to ‘know and understand the controls of the motor vehicle…’. It does not state that they must also know how to use the controls, individually or in combination, when handling various road situation manoeuvres. Yet the tests have been asking questions about this anyway. I mean: these candidates should not yet have even driven a motor vehicle. So this kind of testing is just plain inappropriate, let alone outside the syllabus.
Copied from a Web page at http://k53.gavinhoole.ws/is-the-learners-licence-test-illegal/ :
This is part of the reason why I suggest that the whole range of testing issues needs to be investigated and sorted out to be both legal, practical and useful for the purpose of learning to drive and then become a licenced driver who can drive competently and safely on our public roads.
As can be seen above, the Learner’s Licence test syllabus is not overwhelmingly long. If the official tests were to stick to the official syllabus, and the questions were to be asked in a simple, non-confusing way, then the pass rate would without doubt improve dramatically. This would almost certainly result in…
- A much lower ‘opportunity’ / ‘incentive’ for fraudulent practices on the part of those members of the public paying bribes and those receiving them
- Fewer incidents of illegal licences being bought fraudulently
- More educated and ‘qualified’ learner drivers and licenced drivers on the roads
- Fewer road crashes, injuries and fatalities
- A happier and more satisfied public, and a less clogged-up testing system
Complaints have been published on websites, blogs and in the media, yet the Department of Transport seems unwilling to address the issue, and continues to function outside the law of the National Road Traffic Act.
Is there someone who has what it takes to get this matter addressed and resolved at the highest levels? Is that person the Public Protector?