Safety behind the wheel is a priority shared by both drivers and car manufacturers and authorities with responsibility for traffic. In recent years, the automotive industry has taken a giant step forward in the field of safety by developing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) that improve vehicle safety, as well as of its occupants and also that of other road users.
All new cars registered in the European Union are required, from July 6, to equip ADAS. These systems are increasingly present in cars on European roads, including those used by driving schools to prepare their students for exams.
Now, what incidence do the ADAS have when evaluating the aspiring driver? Can the activation of any of the aids during the driving test lead to a negative grade by the examiner?
To resolve all these doubts related to the driver assistance systems in the vehicles destined for the tests to obtain the permit, the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) itself has published an instruction in this regard that came into force on September 12. In this way, it records which ADAS can be used and regulates the student’s qualification in case they act during the driving test.
According to Tráfico, the instruction “collects the driving assistance systems that can be carried out during the aptitude and behavior control tests, as well as the qualification criteria that must be applied”. It also adds that “systems not included in this instruction will not be admitted”, so “they must be deactivated during the exam if the vehicle is equipped with them”.
In addition, the examiner may ask the student to activate or deactivate any of the ADAS or to indicate the controls that activate them, adds the new DGT instruction.
Traffic specifies that vehicles can carry some ADAS that, although they work during the exam, have no impact on the qualification. They are listed below.
Traffic specifies that the rest of the ADAS systems that do not appear in the instruction are not admitted in the exam, so they must be deactivated during the test if the vehicle has them equipped. For example, the seatbelt warning in all seats or the fatigue detection system.
