5 Simple Questions To Ask Yourself About Your Driver Knowledge Test
The Knowledge test was first introduced as a requirement for taxi drivers in London in 1865 and since then has been adopted by many local authorities across the country.
Electronic knowledge tests have gained popularity in recent years, with increasing numbers of councils choosing to digitalise their knowledge test to help streamline their licensing process.
TaxiPlus have developed a simple, E-knowledge testing system which can be completed by drivers directly from your offices. The system randomly generates tests from a bank of pre-loaded questions and allows you to add, delete and amend questions at the touch of a button.
If you’re thinking of making the seamless switch to electronic knowledge tests, here’s a few key questions to help you make your decision;
1. How lengthy is your marking process?
With paper knowledge tests comes a tedious marking process. A member of your staff marking papers one by one, often taking a huge amount of time.
Do you know exactly how much time could be saved each year by switching over to an electronic knowledge test system?
Why not try this quick sum to find out?
(Number of tests per year) x (time to mark test) = Time that you could potentially save
2. Is subjectivity causing you problems?
Have ambiguous answers ever caused you issues when marking a knowledge test? There can be many different routes to a destination, all of which can be legitimate answers to provide. However, they might not be the “shortest” or “fastest” route, in reality.
Electronic knowledge tests remove this issue. The questions are multiple choice meaning there is only one available correct answer, removing any grey areas.
Reading applicants’ handwriting can also be quite challenging? This can lead to tests being marked incorrectly or even rendering them unmarkable!
3. Find it difficult to track down past examinations?
This is no longer a worry when you use E-knowledge tests.
Every answer to every question is tracked and stored within an electronic testing system, which means drivers cannot plead ignorance.
If a driver has committed an offence you can consult their knowledge test answers to see what they said about this topic previously. Whether or not they fully understood the regulations and what you can do to remedy it.
4. Do your drivers keep seeing the same questions? Ever had issues with cheating or collusion?
This is entirely possible when drivers are all faced with the same questions in the same order. With an electronic testing system, the questions and order of answers are randomised for every driver.
Using an electronic knowledge testing system, you could typically expect the following statistics:
For a council with a bank of 40 different questions who choose to generate a 35-question test, the chances of seeing the same questions, generated in the same order are 1 in 658,008.
5. Are you in control?
Electronic knowledge test systems allow you to have complete control of your test records, giving you the ability to amend, delete and add questions as you please.
For example, if a pub/street name changes in the local area, the system allows users to easily update the test, meaning it remains current and avoids outdated information.
Feedback from local authorities using our ‘E-Knowledge’ system reveals how an electronic knowledge test has transformed their licensing process. The amount of staff time saved means your valuable staffing resource can be used in other areas of licensing.
“Rossendale Borough Council have worked with TaxiPlus to create an electronic, bespoke knowledge and conditions test for all our drivers and new applicants, which ensures that those drivers licensed by Rossendale remain ‘fit and proper’.
From day one TaxiPlus have understood the needs of the authority and worked very closely with us to provide exactly the specification we required, in the timescale specified and with 100% professionalism.”
- Phil Morton – Licensing Manager
Is it time for you to go digital?
Click here for more information about our electronic knowledge tests.