Driving Threat

Driving Threat. 

An International Driving Permit (IDP) is a driving license that permits an individual to drive any category of small vehicle shown on their licence in any another country. An IDP is not a license to operate a car on its own, it has to be accompanied by a valid license from the individual’s home country as well. Permits must be in booklet form, with white inside pages translated into multiple languages to compare with the country of origin licence held. Confusingly with an International driving licence, as it is known, “neither the United Nations nor any of its subsidiary bodies issues or authorises the issue of international driver licences. An international driving licence is not valid proof of driving entitlement in GB”. These can be bought by a number of providers and are mistaken for an IDP.

A visitor can drive a vehicle on busy UK roads for 12 months without having to pass any practical test of competence. However if there is an intention to stay longer than 12 month a provisional license must be obtained and a UK driving test taken. Failure of the test means that the holder of the IDP cannot continue to drive unaccompanied, without the applied restriction on UK roads, associated with the continual use of a provisional license, e.g. they are subject to provisional licence conditions; displaying 'L' plates, being supervised by a qualified driver and being prohibited from motorways.

What generally happens is that as the home office have no idea of who actually comes into the country (legally or otherwise) and has no idea of when a particular ‘visitor’ leaves; unless a driver is stopped and checks made, the visitor continues to drive a vehicle. In addition it is not unusual for visitors from recent ascension countries and others with permission to reside, simply to return to their point of origin after 12 months and obtain a new IDP so generating a new 12 month driving grace period. So far this can be done numerous times without hindrance.   

Given the influx of people from many countries like the African states, Asian, Balkan, Eastern Block and Middle East areas, who can buy or fraudulent obtain a driving licence to obtain an IDP, these are used as a bases for driving in the UK for 12 months. After which the ‘driver’ should take a driving test or cease to drive. In practice what seems to happen is, even if a test is taken and the driver fails, they simple walk out of the test station and drive off in their vehicle. They are not stopped from doing so; they carry on driving and are now effective driving illegally without any effective insurance and are not challenged or reminded of the legal position after failing a test. The DVLA remains unaware of an individual driving status and rules are circumvented. In some cases this may be an oversight in not understanding the legal position they are required to adhere too, this is being charitable but the effect is that it still presents a danger to other law abiding road users. Some may continue to drive in the ‘grace’ period until it expires or simply get a new IDP.

In the UK on average some 415 road deaths occur with additional circa 9K serious injuries each year. This adds to the number of uninsured drivers that cause 26k accident each year. The UK has the most congested and fast complex busy road system in the west. It is one that required good understand of road craft yet each year some 250K new entrants are added to the UK residence load, many of these are of driving age, do not speak the English language have little matching cultural or legal precedence to equate to, yet are quite likely to take advantage of the lax immigration and residency state to be a unresolved danger when they take to the road.

It is likely that although the practical and theory driving test has been modified to make it easier to accommodate cultural acceptability to new entrant, it does not inspire any confidence when there are so many foreign nationals who are assumed to be adequate drivers to cope with the UK weather, signage and road conditions. Another problem, one that impacts on all drivers which is overlooked is the weak application of eye sight testing. The requirement to ‘read’ a number plate at a test station is an initial eyesight filter but there is no requirement to have a good eye test at the renewal of a license or at a set age, say every 10 years. It is impossible that a person’s sight does not change over a period of time and whereas there is a legal requirement for an employer to provide a sight test when an employee is consistently using a computer screen or for HGV / PCV professionals, there is none for the vast majority of others in the dangerous pursuit of driving.

© Renot 2012

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