Yeovil Test Centre

05/04/2011
DOAADI
ADI, Driving Tests, DSA

I mentioned in passing that Yeovil Test Centre was moving. I was speculating on what might happen amongst instructors down that way.

According to The West Country, the DSA has confirmed a new test centre location (though it can’t reveal where just yet).The whole thing seems to be a molehill that’s been deliberately turned into a mountain.

The DSA did not appear to be proposing to cease operations in Yeovil at any time, and yet that is how the local MP is describing it. He talks of the “considerable” distance to the nearest alternative (about 20 miles, though he leads with one that is 28 miles away).

It really bugs me when someone makes an assumption, has that assumption dismissed by facts, and then goes on and on and on about the assumption as if it ever had any validity – when all it was was a misguided opinion.

EDIT 22/6/2011: And here’s the final outcome.

Let me just summarise this whole affair for those out their with lead between their ears, and who have trouble thinking straight:

  • the DSA said all along it was keeping the practical testing facility in Yeovil
  • the DSA said it had found alternative premises
  • the DSA has confirmed – absolutely and finally – that it has found alternative premises

This seems to be a bit complicated for some people, who were rattling on about losing the practical test facility in spite of a crystal clear statement to the contrary.

They’ll have to moan about something else now.

Easiest Driving Test Manoeuvre?

04/04/2011
DOAADI
ADI, Driving Tests

This is an old, old, OLD article from 2011! The test no longer involves turn in the road and reversing around a corner.

That’s the search term someone used to find the blog!

Since the introduction of the Independent Driving section on the test late last year, candidates only have to do one of the basic manoeuvres now instead of the two that used to be required. The basic manoeuvres are [edit: were – this is an old, old article]:

  • turn in the road
  • reverse around a corner
  • reverse park

The reverse around a corner can be either to the left or the right – and in spite of the nonsense you hear from some quarters, the right reverse IS a possibility because it IS on the syllabus. It can also involve normal or very sharp corners depending on the area the test centre operates in.

The reverse parking exercise can involve either the parallel park or the bay park.

So that gives 7 distinct possibilities, though it has to be admitted that the right corner reverse is unlikely.

The Emergency Stop exercise isn’t classed as a manoeuvre, and one in three tests will have that as well as the randomly chosen basic manoeuvre.

Russian Roulette

So which one is easiest? The answer is: none of them.

I’ve had pupils who simply cannot get comfortable with the turn in the road, whereas others pray that that’s the one they get on their tests. I’ve got one at the moment who hates the bay parking exercise. Some of them see the parallel park as the most difficult because it involves more stages, and others struggle with reversing around a corner – and yet others just sail through them.

If I was going to identify the hardest one to master then I’d go for the corner reverse, because it involves constant control rather than extremes – i.e. you have to control the car’s position relative to the kerb, whereas the other manoeuvres are usually based on full-lock and straight steering. But just because something is technically the most difficult doesn’t mean that every learner who tries it automatically can’t do it.

That’s because everyone is different. What one person finds easy another will find hard, and vice versa.

I always explain to my pupils that the test lasts for 30-40 minutes. The manoeuvre will take a maximum of 3-4 minutes, so the rest of the time will be spent driving. However, the manoeuvre is “sudden death” inasmuch as you will fail if you can’t do it – and you don’t know which one it will be. But you’ll also fail if you can’t drive properly. Therefore, it’s important to develop all of these skills to an acceptable level and not play Russian Roulette by neglecting any.

Electric Cars: Salvation?

04/04/2011
DOAADI
ADI, General

Not missing a chance to push the hype to ever higher limits, the Conservative-controlled Lincoln City Council has been boasting how it is using an electric car to ferry staff to and from meetings. The story has escaped captivity and is also meandering through the (local) media.

The car in question is the Smart Fortwo (electric version).

They must have very long meetings in the Lincoln Council (and all in the morning), because the electric Fortwo has a quoted range of only 84 miles (which means more like 50 miles in reality). It takes the standard 8 hours to recharge fully, although you can charge it to 80% in “only” 3 hours.

Rob Smith from the City of Lincoln Council said: “This will give our staff an insight into the benefits of driving an electric car and as an organisation, it will give us an idea of whether or not an electric fleet would be beneficial for the council.”

If anyone is so dim as to still be in doubt about the drawbacks of a sub-100 mile range per charge, and the necessary wait until it is charged (just imagine sitting on a garage forecourt for 3 hours next time you fill up – that should help), then I’m sure this trial will enlighten them. Mind you, I expect the behind-the-scenes charging will be kept away from them while they are “busy” in their meetings.

When I looked it up in Car magazine I saw the first mention of what happens when you do anything other than drive the things under perfect test conditions (or if anthing other than a Cray supercomputer is operating the controls). You see, the Fortwo electric also boasts a 0-37mph time which can be measured using an hourglass rather than a stopwatch:

The go-slower gibe isn’t entirely genuine, since electric motors develop maximum torque from 0rpm and this thing leaves the line like a stabbed rat, thereafter smearing slightly more languidly to 37mph in a quoted 6.5 seconds and on to a governed 62mph. Only thing is, such performance requires the use of a kickdown function which boosts maximum power from 20 to 30 kW for up to two minutes, sending the power reserve meter into a rate of decline on a par with pushing an anvil off a cliff.

So basically, what this is saying is that if you want to go a bit faster the quoted maximum range is likely to fall substantially. This leaves you with the choice of forcing other motorists to wait for another traffic light change (and letting them pump out more greenhouse gases), or run the risk of the power giving out in the middle of a junction if you’re a bit low on juice – and you will be even when it is fully charged.

All this is is a pointless (and expensive) publicity-generating stunt involving the Lincoln Council, Lincoln University, and Cenex (“the UK’s Centre of Excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technology”).

All the higher primates can already see that this is not going to replace petrol- and diesel-driven vehicles – and particularly not with a Fortwo, which is slower and more restricted than just about every other electric car out there.

And it’s also only a two-seater.

Sat Navs “Not Trusted”, Says Swinton

04/04/2011
DOAADI
ADI, Computers & Tech, General

Tell me about it! Swinton Insurance reckons people are increasingly not trusting their sat navs to get them around.

I’ve mentioned before about my negative experiences of Orange Maps – and how the damned system has TWICE decided that it is “unable to connect to the server right now” right when I need to know which way to go (and in the latter case, when it had taken me 300 miles towards my destination, and flaked out within a dozen miles of the important bit of most journeys – the end).

Google MapsThe report says that those in the East Midlands are most likely to ignore what the sat nav is telling them. I wonder if that has anything to do with the A46. Or the Colwick Loop Road?

You see, I couldn’t resist the temptation to buy a Tom Tom a few years ago. I played with it a few times, but the hassle setting it up (and the mess it always made on the windscreen when I took the sucker off) meant I never really bothered. Oh, I used it to get to Wembley Arena, Glasgow SECC, and Newcastle Metro Arena a few years ago (and a few other places), but then I had to carry the bloody thing around with me because I didn’t dare leave it in the car. It was a right pain making sure it didn’t get swiped out of your coat pocket either when you were trying to enjoy a gig.

But the most irritating feature was navigation of the Colwick Loop Road/Gedling Bypass. My Tom Tom was brand new, but its map database predated the Bypass - officially opened in 2007. So the Tom Tom tells you you’re driving across a field when, in fact, you’re on the Bypass heading to or from Burton Joyce and Southwell. I resented paying another £80 for an updated map, so I didn’t.

At the moment, a similar thing happens for most of the A46 and part of the A6097 between Widmerpool and Gunthorpe (my car has built-in sat nav now, and I sometimes use it to find new pupils’ houses – especially in rural areas). Since they’re converting this road stretch into a dual carriageway (and numerous bypasses), you spend most of your time on new sections of road – occasionally dipping back on to old sections – and the sat nav doesn’t like it one bit. It’s especially bad when you get near Bingham, because they have built a series of new roundabouts and unless you know where you are going, you will come to those that the sat nav doesn’t know about. Conversely, you’ll be told to leave at a certain exit when you’re not actually on a roundabout – the sat nav is making a best guess.

These days I put my faith in Google Maps. Until I got built-in sat nav, I always used Google to locate my new pupils anyway - just the last section of the journey. But that experience with Orange Maps resulted in the discovery of the Android App for Google – and that is the best system I’ve found. It is free, and it is likely to be updated more regularly than all the other systems put together.

Another advantage of Google on Android is that the phone is small and you can clip it over an air vent in the car. That way, you just need to take a quick glance instead of climbing into the footwell to see it (admittedly, the central instrument console gives cut-down directions from the main sat nav in my car, so I’m exaggerating a bit there).

Of course, I could also stick it right in the middle of my windscreen like the chavs do these days.

Tesco Now Selling Used Cars Online

03/04/2011
DOAADI
ADI, General

TescoBack in February, I mentioned that Tesco appeared to be entering the used car market because it had registered the domain name tescocars.com.

Well, according to this story they’ve now launched their website. You can link to the Tesco Car site here (or click the logo on the left) – it looks quite slick.

I reckon there will be a lot of news coming through about this when the media gets hold of it. The story suggests that dealers will be uneasy over this as Tesco has such a large customer base, and one which trusts the brand. Tesco already does finance, insurance, and breakdown cover, so these provide another pull for people looking for a car.

Precisely what Tesco is doing from a practical point of view isn’t totally clear, but someone has suggested it is not actually holding stocks of cars but acting as an agent for ex-fleet sales.

Not Another One!

03/04/2011
DOAADI
ADI, Driving Tests, DSA, World

The disease seems to be spreading. I mentioned a day or two ago about instructors up in Dumbarton ready to chain themselves to railings because they’ve convinced themselves that the test centre is going to close and they’ll all be forced to drive 10 miles – 10 whole miles –  to another one.

This is in spite of the DSA saying:

DSA plans to continue to provide driving tests in Dumbarton. There are no plans to transfer testing provision… elsewhere.

Then, of course, there was the one up in Cumnock – but it looks like the Mickey Mouse coalition government is anxious to try and win some seats back from the Scottish Nationalists and has given its personal assurance that the tiny, converted terraced house will be reinstated.

This latter story has driven a small group of instructors from Trowbridge, Wiltshire to start moaning about a test centre that was closed down in 2008 – that’s 3 years ago, for anyone who is interested. Since then, they have had to trek the many thousands of miles – well, 13 miles to be precise – to Chippenham.

The coalition has opened up a real can of worms by their stupid intereference in Scotland.

Having offices all over the place is a monumental waste of money to any business, and doubly so during a recession. Fair enough, if a business is offering a service then it needs to have offices in convenient places, but having dozens of the things within a 20 mile radius of a given city or town – which is what the DSA had built up in the past – is a joke.

It’s going to be even more of a joke now the precedent has been set by this coalition – to interfere with simple logic just to win votes.

I wonder if any of the clowns involved in these campaigns realise how much it costs to run a test centre – or how it will be paid for if tiny centres are kept open? Just watch what happens if the DSA has to increase test fees to cover it.

UPDATE 5/4/2011: I have received an email from the coordinator of the Trowbridge situation:

I just wanted to respond to your blog comments:

“This latter story has driven a small group of instructors from Trowbridge, Wiltshire to start moaning about a test centre that was closed down in 2008 – that’s 3 years ago, for anyone who is interested. Since then, they have had to trek the many thousands of miles – well, 13 miles to be precise – to Chippenham.”

I thought I’d let you know what’s actually happened.

We have been fighting to firstly save and now reopen Trowbridge DTC since 25th March 2008 (not just since the news on Scottish DTCs). Whilst the AA Route Planner may show 13 miles from the site of the previous DTC to the DTC in Chippenham to be 13 miles people in Frome (popn 24,500) are having to travel 25 miles and, considering it’s a rural area, up to an hour each way to take their tests.

Whereas the DSA state that the recession has caused around a 7% reduction in the number of tests, DSA information provided in response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request has shown that the number of people from the Trowbridge, Frome and Westbury area taking tests have dropped by 33%. Many good instructors are now having to work part time as a result and the majority have lost between 15-20% of their work (some have lost up to 40% and these aren’t bad instructors).

There has recently been a leaked DSA document released by the PCS Union stating that the DSA are looking to reduce the number of DTCs to 200 by 2015 (that’s by about half) and there has been much talk, but limited action to date, on putting suitable measures in place; surely this should have been done before they started to close DTCs, especially in major towns (Trowbridge is the County Town of Wiltshire)?

We have recenty submitted an FoI request and a request via our MP (who met with 5 other MPs with Mike Penning MP on 2nd November 2010 to discuss this issue) for details of planned and scheduled DTC closures between now and 2015. Whereas, previously, this information has been provided without any problem, the DSA are now trying to get out of and at the very least delay in providing it.

I’m assuming that you’re based in Nottingham and that you, currently,have two DTCs in your area, including an MPTC, and waiting lists of 4-6 weeks. I don’t know, since I have yet to receive the information from the DSA, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the non-MPTC isn’t closed and that, like us and other similarly affected areas have experienced, the waiting list at the MPTC for car tests doubles to 8-10 weeks as a result (we used to enjoy 3-6 week waiting lists but currently the best we enjoy is 7-8 weeks and sometimes as much as 11-12 weeks).

We may not be a large group, probably 30-50 instructors in total with an action group of about 7, but we’ve been trying for over three years to get some change and it would seem that we and others are just starting to see some results. Maybe even our and others efforts will ensure that if and when one of your local DTCs closes the waiting list won’t go above 6-7 weeks.

If you’d asked us in February 2008 whether Trowbridge DTC would close, we’d have laughed and said no chance. As an increasing number of instructors are finding to their surprise, DTC closures can happen to them.

According to the latest leaked DSA information, on a simple average, about one in two driving instructors will be hit by DTC closures and a number of those will go out of business unless suitable replacement measures are put in place.

In many areas, especially rural ones, it can take quite a while to travel 13 miles let alone 25.

And a further comment:

Based on DSA data provided in response to an FoI request, which I’ve previously referred to, there will be no additional cost to the DSA or the Government as a result of reopening Trowbridge DTC. As the direct result of reopening Trowbridge DTC, it is anticipated that the DSA will receive additional revenue of on average an additional £25,000 per annum over and above the £29,531 per annum cost to the DSA of running Trowbridge DTC (this includes travel and subsistence for examiners). I’m not saying that this will be the case in every area but I’m sure it will be in several and probably in the case of the other 5 areas that are working with us on this issue.

It’s only fair to present both opinions on the matter. That said, I am wondering how anyone could put a price on revenue to be generated by reopening a closed test centre – it implies that there are 400-500 people per annum who would not take their tests unless Trowbridge reopened, and such data are simply not available, and certainly not in a reliable form. I could just as easily say that if people want to learn to drive then they’ll do what is necessary – and that includes travelling typically 10 miles further (some obviously more, but they had to travel quite a way even when Trowbridge was operating and have now been doing the alternative for 3 years) to the now-nearest centre.

I am certain the DSA did its sums before deciding to close Trowbridge, and its data were probably far more fact-based. It’s easy to put a spin on any argument by making the necessary assumptions.

The irony is that the DSA – being a huge bureaucracy – would probably like nothing more than to open test centres in every city, town, and village (which is more or less what it was doing until a few years ago). It has been criticised in the past for the test fees it charges in order to finance this bureaucracy. You’ve had know-it-alls on forums learn a new word – Quango – just so they could keep saying it every time they mentioned the DSA.

And yet now the DSA is trying to streamline it still can’t win.

Electric Cars: A Lifeline?

01/04/2011
DOAADI
ADI, General, World

BatteryAn interesting news snippet here concerning A123 Systems (an American company) and a proposed Li-ion battery that would give electric cars a 300 mile range.

I am sceptical (and a realist). A 300 mile range is still not the same as what you get from a petrol or diesel vehicle, so no point pretending it is.

An 8 hour charge (probably more with one of these super-batteries) is a major stumbling block.

And they won’t be available for 5-10 years.

You Couldn’t Make It Up!

01/04/2011
DOAADI
ADI, General

Sometimes, you read a report that you just couldn’t make up. This is so sick that it can’t be an April Fools story.

The Digital Journal reports on the death of a young woman due to the dangerous driving of Luke Burdakay. But get this:

[Burdakay]… has only 15 per cent vision [he is registered blind], has never had any driving lessons or held a driving licence but, in February he took off in his mother’s car after an argument. He was driving on the wrong side of the B1083 when he struck the car being driven by 20-year-old Laureen Hammond, who was on her way to work at a seniors’ home.

It never ceases to amaze me that people like this exist. They shouldn’t, but they do.

The impact tore the side off of the car and the young woman was thrown to the road, even though she had been wearing a seatbelt. The car then burst into flames.

Burdakay, who is 19, has been sentenced to 12 years in a young offenders institution. But when he committed this act, he was:

  • in breach of court bail
  • in breach of a curfew
  • took the vehicle without permission
  • was 1½ times the legal drink-drive limit
  • didn’t stop
  • hit another vehicle
  • admitted attempted robbery at a fish shop earlier this year whilst wearing a balaclava and wielding a meat cleaver

Se what I mean about not being able to make it up? And you can bet he’ll be out in a few years, ready to push his pathetic existence to new lows.

In the meantime, Laureen Hammond is gone forever.

Test Centre Closure? Not Again!

31/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI, World

The Lennox Herald reports that driving instructors in Dumbarton engaged in a protest convoy on Monday because the Dumbarton Test Centre might be closed down. It seems to be the latest fad up in Scotland: protesting about test centre closures.

Just for the record, if Dumbarton does close then tests will be conducted out of Anniesland, Glasgow. Dumbarton is a phenomenal 10 miles away from the Anniesland centre. At least the Cumnock one was nearly 20 miles. Well, 16 anyway.

Incidentally, the Dumbarton postal address goes “c/o The Benefits Agency”, so you get an idea of what the physical set up must be. The Anniesland one has its own shopfront (well, two neighbouring shopfronts).

In actual fact, the DSA lease ran out on its previous premises and it is not taking bookings until new premises are found. The DSA said:

DSA plans to continue to provide driving tests in Dumbarton. There are no plans to transfer testing provision to Anniesland or elsewhere.

Testing in Dumbarton has been operating three days a week on a trial basis, but this will be reviewed and can be increased if there is sufficient demand for more days.

Candidates can still book tests slots in Dumbarton for the days when testing is taking place.

So it appears to be a protest over nothing. However, simple black and white factual statements like this never bothered ADIs before, so why start now? Various instructors have said:

We can’t let the crack widen… It’s going to take pressure from us and the public to get the Dumbarton test centre secured.

As I work part-time I don’t know if it would be a viable option to travel to Anniesland.

It’s going to mean double lessons all the time for learners in order to cover travel. With fuel prices increasing as well, all these rising costs are going to be passed on to pupils.

As far as I’m concerned just now it’s shut.

It speaks for itself, doesn’t it?

Idiot Drives Wrong Way on Dual Carriageway

31/03/2011
DOAADI
Bad Drivers, News

Another frightening tale from the real world in the Daily Mail.

The report is a little flaky – the car is described variously as “this little car” (cutesy), a “Vauxhall Astro (sic)”, and a “Vauxhall Corsa” (got there eventually).

Let me paraphrase in plain English: an idiot driver came up an EXIT slip road to drive the wrong way up a dual carriageway, hit a lorry – causing it to jack knife across the road and turn over- and destroyed her own car.

If you look at the pictures, the damage is unbelievable. Of course, you won’t be able to see the chaos it caused on the roads while they cleared the wreckage – police had to close the road for 6 hours. Nor will the fact that the jack-knifed lorry (or the idiot in the Corsa) fortunately didn’t kill anyone.

The imbecile driving the Corsa has been charged with dangerous driving. According to the Mail, the Crown Office has said:

The Procurator Fiscal at Aberdeen has received a report concerning a 20-year-old woman in relation to an incident on the A90 on 22 March 2011.

The matter remains under consideration.

I can’t wait to see how this one pans out. I can almost hear the mitigating circumstances now.

As an aside, about 6 years ago I was driving along the A50 (a dual carriageway which is 4 lanes wide in places) from Derby to Nottingham. I was doing 70 mph when around a bend came another car driving in the outside lane the wrong way. I did things in the proper order:

  • Shit myself
  • Moved to the inside lane to slow down and make an emergency 999 call to the police to let them know

The phone rang. And rang. And rang. And rang. Then rang some more. No one answered the 999/emergency call!

I just hung up and thought “sod it”.

As of 2015, I have been unable to find any reference to this accident other than the original report. All the indications are that the stupid bitch who caused this got off lightly.