January 3rd, 2010 Administrator
Almost 2,000 learner drivers in NI failed their driving test for at least the fifth time last year.
Environment Minister Edwin Poots told the assembly that 14,744 car drivers failed on their first attempt.
SDLP MLA Thomas Burns, who tabled the question to the minister, urged people who failed several times to persevere.
“Many people find the process tough going, but candidates should not view their difficulties as a sign of them being a personal failure,” he said.
Of people taking their second test, 11,126 were unsuccessful, while 5,839 failed for a third time, 2,608 failed their fourth attempt while 1,981 failed five or more times.
Txt-Drive driving instructors in Bedford have a high first time pass rate. Driving lessons in Bedford start from just £12.00 per hour with a Bedford driving instructor from Txt-Drive.
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January 3rd, 2010 Administrator
Up to 40,000 motorists on our roads are there illegally after paying conmen to take their driving tests for them.
Investigators working for the Driving Standards Agency say every year thousands of dodgy learners get fraudsters to impersonate them because they have no hope of passing a test themselves.
They pay stand-ins, who often use disguises, up to £3,000 a time to take a test for them.
Then they are unleashed on our roads without the necessary skills to cope, putting genuine drivers at risk of injury or even death.
The DSA’s Andy Rice said: “It is enough to make you seriously worried when you drive home at night.
“The law of averages says some of these people will have been involved in serious accidents.
“I work on the assumption that if these people don’t think they have a chance of passing a test their driving must be sub-standard and they could end up killing somebody.”
Police say there is no way of knowing just how many dodgy drivers are out there causing serious accidents because their documents are genuine.
Yesterday two men were jailed at Manchester crown court for taking at least 35 tests for other people.
Ali Abdallah, 29, and Muqtar Nuren, 22, were texted provisional licence details by no-hopers.
Abdallah got three years and his accomplice Nuren got 12 months after admitting plotting fraud.
Nuren was involved in 17 tests and Abdallah took part in 27 tests at centres from Huddersfield to Essex. They passed 10.
BRAZEN
Abdallah had previously impersonated a learner in 2003.
The DSA believes there are impersonators who have each taken tests for hundreds of unskilled drivers.
Since 2004 there have been more than 2,300 reported cases of impersonation including 616 incidents over the last year. But the true figure is feared to be much higher.
Some serial impostors take several tests at the same centre on one day.
The most brazen have taken tests in the morning then changed their clothes and returned in the afternoon posing as new candidates.
If you would like to pass your driving test in Bedford quickly, contact the driving school Txt-Drive, who have a high first time pass rate & offer cheap driving lessons in Bedford. They work out cheaper than the ‘national’ driving schools over the national average of 67 hours required to pass the driving test. Many of Txt-Drive pupils pass first time & have no, or very little, private practice. Most pupils also require less driving lessons than the national average. Pupils that pass their driving test with Txt-Drive do so in a maximum of 3 attempts (this is the national AVERAGE!!). So Txt-Drive pupils are all ‘average or above average’.
To book a driving lesson in Bedford with a Bedford driving instructor call Txt-Drive driving school on 0800 8600 983 (FREEPHONE) or text DRIVE to 80039 (standard text message rate).
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January 3rd, 2010 Administrator
It’s a thorny subject, so it is probably just as well it was a female scientist who confirmed that men are better at parking than women.
Men were typically five per cent more competent at parallel parking – where the car draws alongside anther vehicle before reversing into a bay – according to research.
They were also better at driving head-on into a space and then reversing into place.
During the tests, in which volunteers were asked to repeatedly park a saloon car, psychologists found women didn’t benefit from the extra 20 seconds they took to complete the manoeuvres on average.
In fact, they tended to end up much closer to the edge of the bays than the male drivers, despite showing far more caution.
The scientists from Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, concluded men benefit from superior co-ordination and spatial awareness because their brains can process the changing position and speed of a car quicker than women’s.
The study’s co-author, Dr Claudia Wolf, a PhD student at the university’s Department of Biopsychology, said she became interested in the subject because of the number of chauvinistic comments she encountered about women drivers.
‘These prejudices exist and, as a scientist, I decided to find out if they are true or based on myth,’ she said.
‘I don’t think feminism or the cause of women is in any way set back by these findings. It only proves what
previous studies about the spatial differences between men and women have shown.
‘Besides, it is not as if there was a massive failing by women. It is just about parking – not the triumph of men over women.’
Some 65 volunteers with varying degrees of driving experience were asked to park a £23,000 Audi A6 automatic in a 15ft by 6ft space in a university car park.
The drivers’ skill was calculated by checking how central the car was in the bay at the end of the manoeuvre.
One area that vexed the psychologists was how the extra time and caution displayed by the women provided no benefit.
They noted: ‘The marked difference in parking duration could be explained in terms of general driving habits. Several studies prove that men take greater driving risks.
‘However, a sex difference in riskassessment leading to women parking more cautiously, and thus more slowly, does not explain why women’s final parking position was less accurate than men’s, especially for parallel parking.
‘Slower driving should lead to a better and not worse result.’
Germaine Greer said the study was ‘pointless’.
The feminist writer added: ‘I can believe that men were proven to have a very significant advantage in spacial awareness when it comes to parking.
‘You must remember that women also have bosoms which makes it very difficult to turn around.
‘However, did we really need to know this? Should we now stop women from parking? Of course not.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1237383/Men-really-ARE-better-parking–thats-woman-professor-talking.html#ixzz0bUjmiALh
Bedford driving school Txt-Drive teaches both male & female pupils to drive & to park. On your driving lessons you will learn how to reverse park a car in a car park & also on the road (inbetween two parked cars). Txt-Drive driving instructors have a variety of methods & will teach you a method which best suites you!! Txt-Drive DOES NOT believe that men are better at parking than women. If you want to learn to drive in 2010 or would like to improve your driving or parking please call Txt-Drive driving school in Bedford to arrange a driving lesson with a fully qualified driving instructor (ADI).
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January 2nd, 2010 Administrator
The driving test should be overhauled to include a new “etiquette” section to nip road rage, middle lane hogging and selfish parking in the bud, a poll has found.
Four out of five motorists would back the idea if it helped curb “sins” such as overtaking on the inside or bad parking, the study found.
There was also strong support for making all drivers retake their tests periodically to iron out bad habits.
Overall 82 per cent supported the idea of adding a motoring etiquette section to driving tests, according to the poll carried out for Intune, the car insurer.
Those who take up more than one space in the car park or cut other motorists up on the road caused most annoyance, each cited by 80 per cent of respondents asked to identify the most irritating traits in other motorists.
Road rage and hogging the middle lane of the motorway were also near the top of the list of bad habits, singled out by 77 per cent and 75 per cent of respondents respectively.
Meanwhile two thirds said they would back a change in the law to force all motorists to retake their test periodically while four out of five said those over 70 should be made to do so.
“Statistically older drivers have more accidents but they are more likely to be minor accidents,” said Mark Gettinby, director of financial services at Intune.
“Older drivers should not be stereotyped as being bad drivers as the majority are safe drivers, just as there are some younger people who are poor or dangerous drivers.
“It is important for all drivers, regardless of age, to ensure they are competent behind the wheel and keep up to date with their skills and road rules.
“Taking the time to be courteous towards other road users will also help make the roads safer for everyone.”
:: GfK NOP polled just under 1,000 drivers for the survey.
From : Telegraph website
Book driving lessons in Bedford with Bedford driving school Txt-Drive. You will take the current driving test in Bedford. Txt-Drive driving instructors cover the DSA’s driving syllabus which includes many different driving subjects including parking. You will be taught where it is safe & legal to park your car. Book driving lessons with a Txt-Drive driving instructor in Bedford, call : 0800 8600 983 (FREEPHONE) or visit the website www.txt-drive-bedford.co.uk
Txt-Drive driving instructors offer the Pass Plus course. On the Pass Plus course you will cover 6 driving modules including motorway driving. You will be told how to drive correctly on the motorway, how to make progress by overtaking but also how to drive your car in a safe manner.
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December 14th, 2009 Administrator
Free driving lessons in Bedford for you and your friends from the Bedford driving school Txt-Drive.
Introduce a friend to Txt-Drive and after they have booked five 2 hour driving lessons, you will receive a free one hour driving lesson in Bedford & your friend will also receive a free one hour driving lesson in Bedford!!
This offer is UNLIMITED so you can introduce as many friends as you like!! So you can introduce 2 friends and get 2 hours of driving lessons free or introduce 10 friends and get 10 hours of driving lessons free!!
To book a driving lesson in Bedford with Txt-Drive please call 0800 8600 983 (FREEPHONE). Or visit the websites www.txt-drive.co.uk or www.txt-drive-bedford.co.uk for more information about Bedford driving instructors, Bedford driving school and Bedford driving lessons.
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