Kia Driving Test
Kia Motors UK challenged some experienced drivers to retake their driving test in a driving experiment and alarmingly the failure rate was 50%. This compares to the failure rate of 42% for new drivers. Worringly some of the candidates that Kia challenged had held a full licence for more than 30 years and regularly drove 150 miles a week.
Half of the failing candidates also committed a “major” during their driving test examination for which they’re instantly disqualified. One candidate narrowly missed a pedestrian who had stepped into the street between parked cars. The most common fault committed by all of the driving test candidates was poor observation. Damien Burke of the Blue School of Motoring put the candidates through their paces and the top ten sins are as follows;
1) Undue hesitation at junctions causing confusion for other drivers
2) Speeding especially in built up areas.
3) Postioning in the road either by driving too close to the kerb, parked vehicles or by straying across the white line divider.
4) Following distance – driving too close to the vehicle in front.
5) Signalling at junctions- forgetting to indicate.
6) Moving away safely- not indicating or checking mirrors before pulling off.
7) Control of the car when reversing and not keeping both hands on the wheel.
8) Emergency stop -omitting to check the rear view mirror before braking.
9) Safe stopping at junctions – not applying the handbrake at junctions.
10) Poor obervation - lack of awareness of other road users and potential hazards.
Mr Burke said, “Seeing that the majority of candidates has held a licence for over 10 years, it is expected that some aspects of their driving will have deteriorated – most drivers pick up bad habits and cut corners along the way, however these should be ironed out if the driver is to be a truly safe and competent road user”. The driving challenge undertaken by Kia clearly shows that “experienced” drivers have picked up some bad habits and this can affect road safety.
