I can’t say it often enough: Mandatory retesting for driver’s licenses would address many problems.
- It provides a strong incentive to brush up on all the rules
We could all benefit from a refresher on the rules. Over the years many of us have forgotten what the rules actually are.
Some of us got licenses without ever having to properly learn the rules and have just been operating by instinct and “common sense” for a long time. This needs to change.
- It provides an opportunity to teach how to manage new road features.
How many times have you heard we can’t have roundabouts because people don’t know how to use them? I’m sick and tired of weaponized ignorance and avoiding inconvenience used as an excuse for not making improvements!
Lives are literally at stake here. Multiple people in traffic collisions in Winnipeg (and elsewhere in the province but I’m not tracking those numbers) every year. Data from jurisdictions that have gotten serious about Vision Zero tell us it doesn’t have to be this way.
- It creates a mechanism to identify and impose consequences on poor drivers.
We've all heard stories about or even known drivers who should not be on the road. Sometimes this is due to reduced capacities due to old age. But not always. Some folks just don't have the skills regardless of age. This should not be tolerated.
It is high time we are willing to suspend licenses of drivers who are a menace on the road. And to do that, we need a test imposed regularly and broadly. Drivers who fail should be forced to pass a road test before their license is restored. And if they can’t pass? Too bad. It’s not age-based; it’s skill-based.
- Generally, it creates a culture where driving is treated as a serious responsibility that requires skill maintenance.
Driving must be a privilege we earn not a right that is exercised in perpetuity. Most of us would be improved by being reminded of the rules on a regular basis. This needs to be built into the system.
So how would we do it? Written or road tests? The latter would be ideal but is far more difficult to roll out. The former would still be effective in changing the behaviour we need addressed.
I made some projections about how to impose this here
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