DRIVING test candidates may be expected to follow sat-nav instructions as part of their practical from next year, the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) has announced.
During a road safety commission in Parliament, department head Gregorio Serrano presented changes on the cards for 2018 to practical and theory tests which aim to reduce the learning-by-rote aspect and focus more on real-live driving scenarios.
The theory test will be computer-based rather than on paper to 'prevent cheating' or forcing candidates to try to memorise as many as possible of the 19,500 questions that could potentially be asked during the exam.
The practical driving test is expected to include simulations of high-risk situations drivers find themselves in to judge how candidates cope.
Part of the test will involve students being given instructions via GPS to follow whilst at the wheel.
Serrano reveals that 60% of candidates who take their theory test at any one time tend to pass, although for every 100 who undergo the practical, only 52 will get through it.
As a result, the two tend to be out of synch and lead to admin headaches and delays for driving academies, which in Spain are State-run and physical premises rather than being independent instructors in their own cars.
During the road safety commission, the DGT also said it is looking into ways of stopping drink- and drug-drivers from repeat-offending, and plans to meet 'urgently' with Guardia Civil traffic bosses to discuss strategy.
“The number of cyclists who are killed every weekend is simply intolerable,” Serrano said.
“We're not prepared to allow people to keep going out on their bikes and not make it home.”
This emphatic stance comes in response to the double tragedy on the N-332 highway in Oliva (Valencia province) on Sunday morning.
Two cyclists from a triathlon team in Jávea (Alicante province), Eduardo Monfort Gasent, 28 and Luis Alberto Contreras, 53, were killed outright by a 28-year-old woman from Gandia (Valencia) who was more than three times over the alcohol limit and had taken cocaine.
Luis Alberto's son Andrés is in an induced coma with head and lung injuries, whilst José Antonio Albi, 23, is on life support after brain surgery and British expat Scott Gordon, 46, sustained multiple fractures in both arms and legs.
The driver, who had been returning from a night's partying, has been remanded in custody and denied bail.
