Any wonder our driver are bad and getting worse?

[Lou Girardin]

I was contacted by a guy I did Driver Tester training with some years ago. He wanted me to act as an advocate for him in a dispute with the Testing company. It appears they are trying to force him out as a result of too many complaints from the public.
Unfortunately I couldn't help, he needed a lawyer.
Yet every lawyer he'd spoken too, told him to walk away. As a contactor he's stuffed.
Now there may or may not be some truth to the company's position, although the complaints do seem to be off the 'I've failed so I'm going to stir shit and see if I can't get a pass' nature.
This is not uncommon, I had one or two as well.
But what else he said did concern me. This company has forced out 2 or 3 others whose failure rates were too high. It's clear that they are buckling to public pressure and do not want too many people to fail. Something I have personal experience of.
One person he failed, would not increase speed past 40 km/h in an 80 km/h zone despite being warned about it. Then complained.
An elderly woman complained that he was rude when he told her to stop before she hit a parked car.
And what does the auditing authority, LTNZ, have to say?
Nothing, Zilch, Nada, Niente. Hear nothing, say nothing, know nothing.

[Squeak the Rat]

Disheartening (sp?) but not surprising.

Who's the company?

[Motu]

Fucking consumers - they have been given far too much power and can send companies and employees to the wall just because someone dares tell them the truth.

[McJim]

A tester shouldn't have to tell someone to stop before they hit a car - that should just be a big FAIL. Should be required to have Dual Control Cars like in the UK so the examiner can pull on the anchors when needed.

I feel sorry for the guy but what should be happening is they should all band together against the company. There can only be a finite number of Qualified Testers - if common sense would prevail coz of numbers t'would be good. I wouldn't hold my breath for the legal system in New Zealand to cover it.

Pass and fail rates should definately not come into it - either the driver is safe for the roads or they are not - just because the previous 50 applicants were morons doesn't make the 51st moron any safer.

[WRT]

Pass and fail rates should definately not come into it - either the driver is safe for the roads or they are not - just because the previous 50 applicants were morons doesn't make the 51st moron any safer.


This sounds familiar, if we adjust a few words and replace them with others, we get:


Pass and fail rates should definately not come into it - either the student is smart for the exam or they are not - just because the previous 50 students were morons doesn't make the 51st moron any smarter.

And Voila! We have the same argument aimed at the NCEA.

[ManDownUnder]

Have the company put through a "secret shopper"... establish how tough he actually is...

Independently test the guy, do it on film ... whatever. How can a guy lose his income on the word of others (or on the apparent results... which may be accurate)

That's BS.

Good luck to him.

[spudchucka]

Don't TV 3 love doing stories about this sort of thing?

[Lou Girardin]

Have the company put through a "secret shopper"... establish how tough he actually is...

Independently test the guy, do it on film ... whatever. How can a guy lose his income on the word of others (or on the apparent results... which may be accurate)

That's BS.

Good luck to him.

He did have a tape recorder for several tests. No problems, but then there wouldn't be.
Like I said, I'm ambivalent about his case. His complaint rate is way higher than average. But then, that happened when cops were testing, some were just much stricter than others.

[crashe]

What the hell is the company complaining about...
Gee everytime the person fails....... they have to repay to resit the test...
so the company is getting richer and richer...
So surely they would be wanting him to fail many....:whistle:

(pt)



Personally I would prefer that ALL the bad drivers didnt pass the test....
then there would be more room on the roads for us bikers.

[Crisis management]

It does seem to be endemic, the expectation that just cause you paid to do the test you should pass, also that some educational / training facilities now see success as a volume of passes rather than the quality of graduates.
My expectation is that a level of achievement must be met or you try again, at the end of that the graduate actually has something to be proud of rather than just another certificate.
Someone lots brighter than me said "People rise to your level of expectation", seems like a good way to approach education to me.

[TLDV8]

Pass and fail rates should definately not come into it - either the driver is safe for the roads or they are not

That might depend on the Test location.I seem to remember the Westie Tester who was selling a "pass" and making what may have been $1000's of dollars got community service as a punishment.The problem starts way higher than any test company ?

[Swoop]

Good ol' NZ.
Catering to the lowest common denominator.... AGAIN.

Keep dumbing things down and soon we'll be...........
um, something. Can someone with NCEA help please?

[Lou Girardin]

The problem started with the privatisation of testing. Initially it was OK, we had no pressure on us to be 'customer friendly'. When the AA took over, it all went downhill. Disgruntled test applicants were bad-mouthing the AA as a group. Not too good for public relations.
So they started subtle and not so subtle pressure to be nicer to customers. They even proposed that testers didn't check cars for current WOF's before a test!
They tried to have a go at me because I failed someone who's car door hinges were more rust than metal.
At least the cops were immune to this kind of shit.

[RantyDave]

One person he failed, would not increase speed past 40 km/h in an 80 km/h zone despite being warned about it. Then complained. An elderly woman complained that he was rude when he told her to stop before she hit a parked car.
He doesn't need a lawyer, he needs a journalist. Or a PR firm. The public needs to know that the cause of crashes is not speed, but fucknuckles.

I agree with the posts regarding the UK. A driving examiner can almost fail you for wearing the wrong colour shirt. There's a long list of things you should do every time and if you fail to do any of them, once, you will fail. It's common practice for people to need two or three goes at getting their test.

Dave

[sunhuntin]

i feel sorry for the guy....only doing his job. as everyone knows, there are huge numbers of people who should never ever have got their license. getting it is way too easy...its not just about driving/riding, but reacting to the surroundings, the weather everything. any dumbass can ride a bike and not fall over...takes someone with half a brain to do the other 1000 things we have to do.

in all reality, i should have failed my learners...my weaving wasnt up to scratch. but i had a good tester who walked me through it so to speak, he was awesome.

i wish all testers were as honest as the guy in question here...the roads would be a much safer place for everyone.

[McJim]

I agree with the posts regarding the UK. A driving examiner can almost fail you for wearing the wrong colour shirt. There's a long list of things you should do every time and if you fail to do any of them, once, you will fail. It's common practice for people to need two or three goes at getting their test.
Dave
Absolutely right Dave,

I've known of people that have gone as far as 20 or 30 tests in the UK and still not passed - the examiner will fail you if you do something wrong....every time. My instructor was flabbergasted when I passed as I got reputedly one of the strictest examiners in North West London. I passed first time because I did everything right for a half hour - every indication, every observation, every gear change, every maneovre and always with precisely the correct road position.

Ask me now and I could never drive that accurately again.

[Beemer]

Don't TV 3 love doing stories about this sort of thing?

Precisely my thoughts, this needs exposure and even though I know most of you guys hate the media as much as you hate cops who give you tickets, this would be the easiest way to expose the problem and ensure he doesn't lose his job. It sounds like he's the only one doing it properly.