Street fed up with learner drivers (From This Is Wiltshire)

News RSS Feed

Street fed up with learner drivers

8:50am Tuesday 6th October 2009 in News Photograph of the Author By James Wallin

Learner drivers in Churchward Avenue

LEARNER drivers have been symbolically banned from one Swindon street after driving local people round the bend.

Residents in Churchward Avenue are so sick of their road being clogged with learner drivers that they have put up a makeshift sign in protest.

But one driving instructor said pupils could actually fail their test if they are not given the chance to practice on streets they will face in their exam.

The Rodbourne Cheney road has become a Mecca for motorists since becoming a test route for the new Peatmoor Way driving centre earlier this year.

But for some residents enough is enough.

“It’s a nightmare,” said 68-year-old Gladys Sims. “They come down here at all hours of the day and at the weekend and it can be really terrible.

“It’s especially dangerous at night because sometimes you can’t see them until you’re right on top of them.

“We have children riding their bikes along this street.”

Kenneth Glew, 83, who has lived in Churchward Avenue for more than 50 years, said the increase in traffic had been noticeable.

He said: “Often you find yourself behind a learner driver doing a three-point turn very slowly and they end up parked right across the road. It is very frustrating because it’s something we have to deal with on a daily basis.

“But people have to learn somewhere and if this is on the test route then they have no choice. When I did my test there weren’t so many cars around so it wasn’t such a problem.”

But for 60-year-old Roy Farrow, who has recently moved to the area, a ban on learner drivers simply won’t work.

He said: “I don’t see how it could be enforced. They can’t do anything unless the test routes are changed.

“The instructors have to consider the residents. Before they would wave you through if they were about to do a three-point turn. Now they just get on with it and leave you waiting.

“It can also be a bit hair-raising when they reverse park around your car. But I can always get my revenge by driving off mid-manoeuvre.”

John Walsh, who owns Swindon School of Motoring, said in all his years as a driving instructor he had never heard of a street trying to ban learners.

He said: “I’ve seen all sorts including people putting their dustbins in the way but that sign is a new one on me. Some of my pupils actually think it’s real and don’t turn into that road.

“When that becomes awkward is when an examiner asks them to turn down there on a test and the pupil thinks it’s a no-entry.

“They could actually fail on that.”

Mr Walsh said he could understand residents’ concerns but thought driving instructors were being unfairly blamed.

He said: “The Driving Standards Authority (DSA) decide the test routes and we have to prepare the pupils for those.

“I don’t see a problem with cars going down that road but when you consider that there are about 100 driving schools in the area then you can see how it would start to annoy the residents.”

Comments(34)

Lars says...
8:59am Tue 6 Oct 09

Yes that's right, learners should be banned from Churchward Avenue and moved on to another road about which the Adver can run a similar story in a few weeks' time.

I suppose these residents never learned to drive? Actually, seeing the age of them, no they probably didn't.