The government is preparing a “profound alteration of the rules to take the driving licence in Portugal” – and it is already stirring up a hornet’s nest of outrage (principally from driving schools).
The idea is to slash the number of obligatory practical lessons that must be done before the final test.
Right now, ‘learner drivers’ must pay for 32-hours with an instructor, after passing their obligatory ‘theory test’. The plan is to take this number down to 16 – and open the way to aspirant drivers learning with an unpaid instructor (like mother/ father/ other family member).
In other words, the government is seeking to bring in a model very much like that of the UK where learner drivers take out a provisional licence, display ‘L’ plates on the car they drive, are supervised when driving by a qualified person, and keep away from driving on motorways.
It is a format that helps keep costs down – particularly as the cost of taking out a driving licence in Portugal is around €1,000, and very probably rising every year.
Not surprisingly, driving schools see the development as a threat to their business models, believing that the government is trying to “substitute” them. They have “alerted to the grave consequences to road safety”, explain reports – albeit it seems the potential economic hit is what is causing the most concern.
ANIECA (the national association of driving schools), “warns that the measure could ruin the viability of many businesses in the sector, placing around 4,000 jobs at risk”, says 4Gnews.
There could be the argument that many accidents on the country’s roads involve young people driving without licences. This may be because they have not been able to afford to take them. Open the way to a much more affordable process, and the roads could end up with more drivers on them who have passed the legal requisites (written and practical).
ANIECA does not appear to have looked at the situation from this angle.
The association argues that unpaid instructors (like ‘mum and dad’) “are not qualified professionals and do not have the tools to teach driving in safety”. That too may be a valid point – apart from the fact that generations did in fact learn to drive this way, and do so admirably.
ANIECA nonetheless is fighting this possible change tooth and nail.
One of the other arguments thrown up is ‘responsibility’. If the driving school instructor considers that after 16 lessons, the pupil is still not ‘ready’ to take the test, who will be responsible if the pupil does… and passes (?)
There is another potential fly in the ointment: ANIECA says the law as it stands DOES allow parents/ family members to teach their children how to drive, but it requires them to take out a special insurance policy, which insurance companies are loathe to promote. In other words, the government’s idea “may be difficult to apply”.
For now, all this is just ‘talk’. Jornal de Notícias has said the government is planning these changes, but nothing official has yet been said.
A report on this by SIC also says a plan like this was adopted in Norway, and later “abandoned because of the associated risks”. This is not borne out in a quick online search which suggests the system does work in Norway. Indeed, the stipulation for those ‘teaching’ the learner driver is that “they must be over 25, with a licence for at least five years and sober”.
source material: SIC/ Jornal de Notícias/ 4gnews.pt
