Starting next month, people taking the driver’s license exam can choose to take the driving test partially on the road or completely in a controlled setting, the Directorate General of Highways said yesterday, adding that people choosing the road test should be prepared to be evaluated by more or stricter criteria than those taking the test entirely at specified test field.
Statistics from the highway authority showed that 50 people nationwide have signed up to take the road test next month.
Commenting on the proposal to begin implementing the road test across the nation, DGH Motor Vehicle Division Director Lin Fu-shan (林福山) said that a lot of countries around the world have already administered the driving test on the road.
Photo: Huang Lee-hsiang, Taipei Times
Some of the car license owners in Taiwan never drive because they take both the driving course and the test in a controlled environment and are not confident driving on the road.
According to Lin, the directorate started conducting a trial run of the road test at the end of 2011, in which people can take the road test as a practice after they obtain the driver’s license. People would not lose their licenses if they failed the road test, he said.
Starting March 1, test takers would be given a choice between the road test and the driving test in a test field, Lin said, adding that people volunteering to take the road test would be given a second chance on the same day to retake the driving test on the road or on the test field.
Currently, people who fail the driving test have to wait seven days to retake it.
Lin stressed that the road test would include some of the practices that drivers would often neglect, such as checking the tires before hitting the road, buckling up the seatbelts, yielding to passengers, using signals when making turns or changing lanes and the proper ways to the open the car doors when the car is parked on the roadside.
The directorate said that the perfect score for road test is 100 points, and the passing grade of the test is 70.
As in the current driving test, people taking the road test would be evaluated based on a list of items. Some of the items, such as roadside parking, would be tested in the test field. Other items, such as making turns or following traffic signals, would be tested on the road.
People choosing to take the road test must be prepared to be evaluated by more and stricter criteria. Failing to turn blinkers on when changing lanes or making turns, for example, would only cause the test takers to lose 16 points if they take the test at the test field. People taking the road test, however, would lose 32 points and subsequently fail the driving test all together if they forget to turn the signal on when they make turns.
And among 43 items to be tested for the driving test at the test field, only 18 items are given 32 points. By contrast, 34 of 65 items to be tested in the road test cost 32 points.
The directorate said that test takers must ensure that they have followed the standard practices throughout the test, adding that they do not complete the test until the test administrators say so.
While a survey by the DGH showed that more than 80 percent of people who have volunteered to take the road test said that the road test boost their confidence and make them more aware of the importance of defensive driving, not all people taking driving courses now embrace that option.
“I decided to take the test now because I have heard that the government would soon make the road test mandatory,” said college sophomore Huang Chin-hsiu (黃靖修). “I drive a stick-shift car so there is chance that the car may stop or the engine may flame out if the gear is not switched swiftly.
Huang, however, said that the road test should eventually be made mandatory if the road test is helpful in developing the correct driving habits.
Lin said that the road tests would be administered at 17 different test locations, adding 14 more would be added to the list in June. The test routes vary, from the shortest of 3km in Hsinchu to the longest of 7km in Kaohsiung.
The trial run would continue for one year, Lin said, and the ministry would decide what the next step should be after reviewing the results of the trial run.
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