DVSA AND CAMERAS
Whilst other associations have been dreaming up ludicrous ideas for DVSA’s ‘One Big Idea’, like making it compulsory to display the ADI licence on test (impossible under current legislation as described in our last newsletter), or the even more crackpot idea of having ADI’s sat in the front on test whilst the examiner sits in the back, Unite has been working hard on an issue which is actually important to ADI’s, and it’s now produced a positive result.
For the last few months we have been corresponding with DVSA on the topic of having cameras in the car. Not to film the examiner or the test, but cameras which record out of the front, rear or both of the car. Thousands of vehicles on the road now have these cameras, the purpose of which is to provide valuable evidence in the event of an incident.
With so many uninsured vehicles now on our roads, and the situation becoming worse by the week, it’s vital that you can protect your vehicle and occupants from insurance fraud and false claims against you.
Excuse after excuse for why these cameras can not be allowed to film during a test has come from DVSA, ranging from data protection, to the candidate may not want it!
Unite has responded to every excuse with carefully researched reasons why DVSA is wrong. There is no data protection issue for any DVSA staff. The camera does not film any test. The camera can protect the interests of the ADI, pupil and examiner in the event of any incident. And we haven’t heard of any pupils who have complained about the camera being their on lessons.
The latest excuse from DVSA, which has been getting ever more desperate to defend it’s policy, is that it does not release test routes under freedom of information because it doesn’t want to encourage ADI’s to use them. We have never mentioned about test routes in any of our correspondence, so the paranoia seems to be overtaking common sense, but in response to that I think it came as a bit of a surprise to them to hear that many ADI’s now use tracking systems to record every second of their lessons, and also tests. Using cheap GPS trackers, and free apps on mobile phones, an ADI can even sit in the test centre and watch on an Ipad in real time where their car travels around a test route.These tracking apps provide a great deal of useful information, and even shows where a a manoeuvre has been carried out.
Mytracks is a free android app. It records, and stores the route, which can be analysed later. It’s a very useful tool for planning lesson routes, and to keep a record of where your pupil has or hasn’t yet practiced.