After yet another unsuccessful attempt (and another Lm10) to pass the ADT driving test, I recalled the article published on December 7 (Majority Fail Stricter Driving Test). It stated that a British penalty system is currently being enforced. Now this got me thinking.

Luckily, my young mind has not yet been muddled by loud music and the national aversion to discussion, and I observed that we do, in fact,live somewhere other than the UK. Has anyone else noticed this?

Of course, I do not consider myself anything close to a driving expert (despite almost a year of lessons), but on a recent trip to Britain, I noted orderly, law-abiding traffic flow almost everywhere. Well that's odd, I thought to myself. The exam guidelines back home are based on this sort of organised system; nothing like the free-for-all adrenaline rush we experience daily in Malta. Perhaps a new test should be formulated. One that takes into account the wild driving on our roads.

One that might include questions such as: What do you do if the guy behind you in the souped-up Ford Escort will not let you change lane safely? Or else: What is the best way to approach a roundabout when not one but two large vehicles are parked at right angles to one another at the junction? And, my personal favourite: What is your best guess as to what the faded road markings are in the Marsa industrial estate?

I would like to extend my condolences to the many many other prospective drivers who have repeatedly been failed by a system that was made in another country, for use in an aforementioned country and for the very subjective nature of the tests themselves. Case in point: How can one explain only just failing the test the first time round (with 17 faults; two faults over the pass limit), and getting just under 30 faults the second time the test was taken? Was it a regression of skill? With the extra lessons I paid for, I should hope not.

That brings us round to the money issue. With Lm10 (sorry, €23.29) padding out the ADT's bank account for every test, it comes as no surprise that many driving students believe that failing as many people as they can is little more than a financial incentive, backed by the excuse of a "rigorous" test. I find myself agreeing with them. I would feel much better about having to retake the test if I knew that money was going towards making our roads safer: enforcement of traffic laws, clearer road markings and maybe a system that monitors already qualified drivers. Especially the kind of driver whose disrespect for the Highway Code would never have allowed them a license, had they been tested more recently.