The AA has said motorists who pass their driving test in an automatic car should be allowed to drive a manual car after completing a one-hour conversion session.
Edmund King, president of the motoring services company, told the Press Association that many new drivers go automatic because they want to “ditch the clutch, gear stick and difficult hill starts”.
Under current rules, people who pass in an automatic are only permitted to drive automatics. If they later want to drive a manual car – for work, hiring a car or borrowing a friend or relative’s vehicle – they must pass a further test in a manual car.
Driving test backlog
Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) figures show the average waiting time to book a test in May was nearly 22 weeks, compared with about five weeks in February 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic.
The proportion of learners taking automatic driving tests in Britain is at a record high. DVSA data shows 29.4% of all tests conducted in the last financial year were in an automatic car, up from about 4% in 2007/08.
Electric cars and gearboxes
Electric cars, which have surged in popularity in recent years, do not have a conventional gearbox, meaning people who choose to learn in them take automatic tests. Whereas a manual car has a gear system operated by moving the gear stick and clutch pedal, automatics change gears based on speed, without the driver doing anything.
Automatic cars are generally considered easier to drive, but they can be more expensive, and some people find them less interesting.
Mr King said: “Most drivers of automatic cars quickly develop good road skills, so it doesn’t make sense to force them to spend months overcoming the driving test backlog just to borrow a manual car.”
He added: “What we need is the Government to approve a conversion lesson provided by driving schools so that those that pass their test in an automatic can also drive manual vehicles legally.”
Mr King said such a conversion course would help those who may occasionally need to drive a manual car legally, adding that this would be more pragmatic than retesting them in a manual vehicle while the DVSA is struggling with the current backlog.
Government response
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “For the safety of all road users, anyone wishing to drive a manual car must pass a manual driving test, and we have no plans to change this.”
Measures taken to tackle the backlog of driving tests include recruiting more examiners and training them faster, using military examiners and reforming the booking process to combat misuse.
