§ Mr. Michael McNair-Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration he has given to including motorway driving as an addition to the driving test.
§ Mr. David MitchellThis subject was considered fully last year following publication of the first report from the Transport Select Committee on road safety which recommended that dual carriageway driving should be included in the driving test. We were unable to accept this for reasons which similarly apply to the inclusion of motorway driving.
At present we provide both an even-handed test and a national network of centres which are reasonably accessible to everyone. As less than half the present network of L test centres are within reach of dual carriageways and even fewer are within reach of motorways we could not do this if motorway driving was prescribed as an element of the test.