State Legislation Re: Continuing Education/Testing for Drivers?

[Maya Lena]

Hi PBPAC,

In light of the recent thread about outer Congress Street and who is more comfortable taking the lane, etc. It made me think about something I have often considered: Why is there no continuing education/re-testing needed for renewing drivers licenses? Why is it the responsibility of cyclists to educate (and frustrate) drivers who just don't know the rules?

There has been so much new development in, for example, bike lane design in recent years, but many seasoned drivers (and even cyclists!) are unaware of what the striping means. Has there ever been any movement at the state level to require retesting every 5-10 years, whenever you need to renew your drivers license to be most up to date on transportation safety and rules?

I'm happy to start a conversation with Rep. Lookner and others but I'm wondering if there is any history of this in Maine.

Maya 

[Zack Barowitz]

Great question Maya. It’s kinda nuts that licenses are essentially given for life save for an eye test (my 86 year old father just got his renewed while being partially blind in one eye from macular degeneration which is worrying for a few reasons). 

Zack 

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[Corey Templeton]

I love the idea! It seems entirely fair in my mind that if you have to renew a license every 6 years then you should also be re-taking the tests that brand new drivers are also required to pass. 

But I realize getting something like this in place would be a monumental task anywhere, let alone a state with as much car-dependency as Maine. I can already hear the complaints "What if someone fails the test, how do they get to work or get their kids to daycare - won't get just drive without a license anyway?" I do see that would be an inconvenience for people who fail, but it's also not great that 42,000 people died in died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the U.S. last year and it feels like as a country we are doing nothing to improve that statistic [/rant].

[John Clark]

I've always been in support of requiring re-testing every renewal, but had been going back and forth on continued education due to the burden that it may place on working car-dependent families who don't have the luxury to take time off to renew their license. However, traffic patterns, regulations, and road designs do change frequently enough that I think some sort of continued education is a good idea that should be considered.

This morning, I noticed an MDOT social media post about a new traffic pattern they've started implementing. It's a little ridiculous that the only people who would learn about this change are folks who follow their state's department of transportation on social media (which is definitely not the average driver)...

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John Clark (he | him | his)

Past Chair, Portland Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee

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[Winston Lumpkins]

As they correctly say, you may notice these changes.  Or, you may not notice them....

I think some sort of middle ground where they just make you watch an up to date 6-10 minute video in your language of choice every  six years reminding people of key changes & addressing whatever people seem to be doing the most poorly that year...  Wouldn't fix everything, but might be better than nothing.  You have to wait in the DMV for like 50 minutes anyway, why not add in 10 minutes for watching such a video...

~Winston

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[John Brooking]

That's a good idea, Winston!

Maya, I only now read this email conversation, coincidentally 10 minutes after interacting with you on the Facebook thread. :-)

John Brooking

Cyclist, Cycling Educator, Technologist

http://cyclingsavvy.org

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[al...@citymouse.us]

Thanks Maya, for bringing this up. I'm not just in favor of it, I look forward to the day when I'll retake the test!

The only thing I've heard, is of conversations in the past (can't remember where) about requiring older drivers to retake the tests, which got pushback from older people. With some end remarks of 'then you'll have to test everyone'.

Are you talking retaking the written test? Or also the driving test? (They retest for vision already, when you renew a license, yes?)

I personally think every ten years could be do-able.

Alex

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[Maya Lena]

I was mostly thinking of a written test. Maybe the state comes out with an updated handbook every year and you are tested based on the information in that year’s booklet. 

It seems like a pretty basic request for people wishing to operate motor vehicles. 

 

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[Corey Templeton]

Really interesting points here. I do think the "middle ground" approach of at least requiring some sort of 10 minute video when you go to renew your license would be great. Such a video could be geared towards people who are renewing so it doesn't cover everything in the drivers manual but just what has changed in the last decade. Agree with comment above that average person probably doesn't follow MDOT on social media, whereas people reading this conversation are interested in this stuff so tend to seek it out.

Another interesting tidbit - I saw a few months ago, either on city's social media or on MDOT's account, a post about how the new "Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon" on Congress Street near Westgate is designed to work. Can't find the exact post right now, but below is a screenshot from the US DOT page.  Did you know when the two red lights are flashing it means cars can/should proceed if their lane is clear? I say I much preferred the normal old traffic signal that was at this crossing because it was very clear red means stop and green means go. 

[Lindsay Sirois]

I recently saw that the League of American Bicyclists has online training for how to be a bicycle friendly driver.

https://learn.bikeleague.org/products/bicycle-friendly-driver-training#tab-product_tab_contents__12

This clearly requires proactive effort on the part of the driver, so is likely reaching only those with an eye toward safe driving in the first place. However, I thought I would share as the educational content may be of interest to this group.

Lindsay

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[Angela King]

The first state to have a Bicycle Friendly Driver program was Colorado. When I saw that back in 2017, I was in touch with Bicycle Colorado, the organization that put it together, to watch the program. They shared it so it could be replicated, and because state laws vary, and laws are referenced in the program, it needed to be revised by each state that wanted to copy it.

There is a Maine Bicycle Friendly Driver presentation that I've shown at Maine Driver Instructor conferences. Some instructors were interested and have incorporated it in their programs, but it is not required.  So it's only some new drivers who may be learning friendly driver info, but as Maya stated, a lot of the current bike/ped infrastructure designs and some newer bike/ped laws many drivers never learned and still don't know.

The Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles has been open to adding new bike ped info into the Maine Drivers Manual. They added the Dutch Reach when BCM asked them to a couple years ago. (instead of explaining that for those who don't know, here's this video) 

And recently I looked through the Maine drivers manual and saw that it doesn't have sharrows in the Pavement Markings section, nor does it have May Use Full Lane in the traffic sign section.

As soon as I contacted them to point that out, they responded that they will incorporate them when they reprint the manuals which is every few years. 

It would be good to have a bill that requires the monitoring of transportation laws and ways to get that information out to the public – like what this email chain is about, maybe requiring more frequent drivers tests.  Especially since the state is going to have an Active Transportation Plan, drivers need to know what people outside of cars are allowed to do and how to drive in a friendly way with them.

 Maine's Hand-Free Driving law wasn't passed until 2019.  All the weight of that was put on law enforcement versus new education for drivers.  So this is a good discussion!

     

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[Zack Barowitz]

A lot of interesting and good points on this thread. The f“proceed if your lane is clear” at a flashing red sounds incredibly dangerous and not a little confusing. A ten-minute safety video on all users and the new laws seems like a very reasonable approach. It might also protect some people from liability. 

And thanks for the reminder on the Dutch reach, I’ll not only be practicing it myself by reminding  anyone who is driving me around to do the same. 

Thanks 

Zack 

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[John Brooking]

Related: how hard it is to get a driver’s license in Holland.

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2022/12/05/its-hard-to-get-a-drivers-license-in-holland-and-thats-one-reason-dutch-roads-are-so-safe/

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