The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) – also still known separately as the Driving Standards Agency and Vosa – has said it is not surprised that under 10% of respondents to its recent Driver CPC consultation felt the new qualification had significantly improved road safety.
Last week, a DSA report published alongside the DfT’s official response to a call for feedback on the effectiveness of the Driver DPC from the EC showed that just 9.5% of respondents believed it had “significantly” increased safety on European roads. Just under 44% of respondents to the question said it had “only marginally” done so and nearly 47% said it had not contributed to safety at all.
Just 11.6% of consultation respondents said they felt the DCPC had contributed significantly to the development of the level of professional competence of drivers, meanwhile.
Commenting on the findings, a DVSA spokeswoman told Motortransport.co.uk: "Driver CPC is expected to improve the professionalism within those industries and enhance road safety but as we have been clear, achieving road safety benefits will take many years as currently only a proportion of professional drivers will have completed their first tranche of periodic training.
"Proving a causal link between the introduction of Driver CPC and reductions in casualties is not straightforward. It is therefore not surprising that a relatively small proportion of those who responded to our consultation consider that there have been significant improvements made so far."
The DVSA spokeswoman said it was still “encouraging that lorry and bus drivers have generally reported benefits from completing their Driver CPC initial qualification and periodic training”, adding: “There are improvements we can make to the training and we are working to address concerns, but drivers and their employers should ensure that training is undertaken that is relevant to their particular needs.”
