In Yourview, Toronto Star Wheels, February 6th,
2010, several writers complained about
the deteriorating levels of fitness and skills exhibited by senior drivers as
they age. Many boomer-aged offspring of these Octogenarian drives face a real dilema: should
they let Pop or Mom continue to drive, even if they put themselves, or others
at risk on Ontario's highways?
Recent crashes in Vaughan claiming the lives of teenagers, and 15 GTA pedestrians
within the first 2 weeks of 2010 have spawned a call for better training and
testing and much needed, immediate action to toughen up training and testing
standards. Current testing of seniors regarding road tests are withheld from
seniors annually, as they turn 80, for pure political reasons. Only if 65+ aged
drivers are involved in an at-fault collision, or, if seniors perform poorly on
their vision, and written test, once they achieve the ripe old age of 80, then
the officials at the Ministry of Transportation, and their agents at Drivetest
are interested in seeing them for a road test of their skills.
Graduated Licensing was introduced to Ontario in April of 1994. It mandates ALL new drivers to Ontario write
a simple written test (G1), and undergo a simple city test (G2) and a highway
test, to graduate to a full G license , within a 5-year period. Teenagers can get their G1 on achieving their
16th birthday, after a simple vision test, and pop-quiz of 40 questions, with a
minimum score of 32 out of 40. With
driver training, they can achieve their G2 license after 8 months, and now
legally drive alone, at night, on the freeway, in mid-winter conditions, in
either automatic or standard transmission.
Whether they receive adequate training
is the question! One year later, our
hypothetical teenager, now aged 17 years, 8 months old, can apply for the
G-highway test. A simple
reiteration of the G2 city test, (15 minutes), plus merging on-off the highway,
and "voila", no more testing from the Ministry for another 62 years!
The next 62 years, unfortunately may greatly affect us on the road: you, me,
our kids, our parents, and our loved ones.
Is the Ministry negligent in putting us all at risk due to improperly
trained, and improperly tested drivers on our roadways? I am a G1/G2/G training specialist. I
routinely renew between 3-5 licenses yearly in order to teach, and maintain my "Approved
Driving School Status". To maintain
an MTO approval, I further need to pay
for licenses to teach provincially, locally, both in the car, and in the
classroom. I must maintain yearly checks
on certification of all company cars,
yearly audits checking business records, background checks of all
Instructors, criminal searches, compliance checks for all full-course students,
renewals of: business license,
owner/operator's license, provincial license, demerit point records check and
finally proper insurance checks. All
approved schools must pay premiums for a minimum coverage of $2 million
insurance liability. We driving instructors
are routinely charged 500-600% more than our domestic driven family cars in
order to teach an applicant.
I was shocked to learn that most truck driving instructors do not need to uphold
a driving instructor's license, nor have specific training to instruct. They
need only have the category specific license to teach ie. A,B,D, etc. Perhaps this is one reason we see truckers
become unprofessional drivers on our roads.
Yes, I believe ALL drivers should be tested at a high skill level every 5 years! Truly, if the new Minister of Transportation,
Kathleen Wynne is serious about her Oath-of-Office, unlike old
"knee-jerk" Bradley, whom is now demoted due to his inaction in
handling the drivetest strike, she will
enact prompt proper legislation protecting the privilege to drive on our public
roadways! Ontario's public deserves
better drivers. Are we courageous
enough, and willing to take the next step in our graduated licensing
system: Should we have mandatory driver
ed for all new drivers?
Should the current Liberal government enact mandatory
testing for ALL drivers every 5 years?
If we don't, we have much to lose.
Jeff C. Pope
President, a Formula 1 Driving School
jeff@af1.ca
416-888-1227