Students taking the driving simulation test 'fell like flies'

Editor's note

According to the Vietnam Road Administration, in 2022, the country will have about 1.5 million people learning to drive cars, but only about 50% will pass the driving test. Tightening the training, testing, and licensing of drivers is a task set by the Ministry of Transport to fight corruption, negativity, and limit traffic accidents.

There have been solutions for applying information technology, including requiring training facilities to install devices to monitor driving practice time and distance (Distance and Time - DAT), adding simulation tests to the theory test, and learning to drive in an electronic cabin. However, the implementation has many shortcomings that make students "laugh and cry".

Vice Principal Failed Driving Simulation Test 16 Times

Because his driver's license had expired and he could not renew it, Mr. Nguyen Tuan Viet (43 years old, living in Minh Khai, Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi ) was forced to retake the theory course last May. During this course, Mr. Viet encountered many "laugh-out-loud" things.

According to research, from June 2022, in addition to the theoretical test of 600 questions on the Road Traffic Law, students taking the driving license test will have to take an additional simulation software test with 120 situations. Students will observe traffic situations in the simulation video , and when a dangerous situation appears, they will have to press the stop button.

According to Mr. Viet, at the time his class took this test, the results "dropped like rain".

“The class monitor is the vice principal of a primary school in Hanoi (over 50 years old) but failed this test 16 times. I myself have been driving for over 10 years but failed twice with a score of 33/35.

The rate of passing this test on the first try is less than 50%. Even though students do not have to retake the test, they will have to retake it, which is very time-consuming,” said Mr. Viet.

At the end of June 2023, at the Bac Ha Driver Training and Testing Center (Tu Son, Bac Ninh), many students left the simulation test room with sad faces. In the computer room used for students to practice, many people appeared worried. Although the clock was moving towards 11 am, students were still hugging their computers to practice.

Students nervously wait their turn to take the driving test at Bac Ha Driving Training and Testing Center

Ms. Lan (Tu Son, Bac Ninh) also glued her eyes to the computer screen to study. This woman took advantage of the few minutes to practice more situations before the exam. After pressing the mouse to brake to avoid pedestrians on the road, she quickly refused to answer the reporter because "she had failed the exam twice".

Describing the simulation test further, student Nguyen Tuan Viet humorously said: “Have you played the audition game? This game requires precise timing to jump, sometimes winning or losing depends on the computer because of different delays, the simulation test is similar.”

According to Mr. Viet, the first time failure usually occurs in the group of older students. The number of failures increases with the age of the student; the older the student, the higher the retake rate.

“The early 6X and 7X generations hardly play games. Not to mention that computer operations are slower, so it is understandable that they fail in a test that is no different from playing a game.

These are tests that simulate situations on the road, but the braking and stopping operations are performed by pressing buttons on the computer keyboard. Therefore, no matter how much you practice, if you press a button to handle the situation even 1 second faster during the test, you will not be counted for points,” Mr. Viet emphasized.

Sharing this view, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lanh (36 years old, in Ho Chi Minh City) said that the driving simulation test has many shortcomings.

“When I first started studying, I thought the simulation part was easy, but after finishing the test, I realized this part was the most difficult and unrealistic. Most students took this part by trick learning,” said Ms. Lanh.

The person who handled the dangerous situation early to be safer failed.

Ms. Huynh Thi Thu Hong, Deputy Director of the Royal Driving Training and Testing Center (HCMC) acknowledged that in the simulation test, students are completely forced to follow the software writer's way of handling the test.

“In my opinion, it is impossible to impose thinking and judgment on situations on the screen into reality. Each person has a way of handling situations depending on age, gender to suit driving feeling and circumstances. However, with pre-programmed situations, if the candidate does not press stop within the allowed range, he or she will fail,” Ms. Hong said.

It's almost 11 o'clock but students are still diligently practicing simulation situations before the exam.

Sharing the same view, Ms. Tran Thi Bich Thao, Vice Principal of Tien Bo Traffic College (HCMC) assessed that driving skills and handling of each individual are different. Therefore, there cannot be a common denominator to attribute to all individuals to require identical handling down to the second when participating in real traffic.

Ms. Thao cited an example of an impending dangerous traffic situation. For an individual with a sharp mind, they would handle the situation at a safe enough time and in the required time to achieve the maximum score on the test.

However, for people with careful or older personalities, they will handle it a little earlier and they slow down from a distance. However, in this case, the score will be failed.

“So is it fair that a person who handled a dangerous situation early has no points in the simulation situation above?” Ms. Thao raised the issue.

Many students are worried about the driving simulation test, if they don't concentrate they will "fall like a fruit"

Mr. Nguyen Huu Nghia, Deputy Director of Bac Ha Driver Training and Testing Center (Tu Son, Bac Ninh) suggested that the way to calculate scores for students in this test should be changed.

“Currently, the scoring system is very rigid in the following order: 5-4-3-2-1. Students who press the button just 1 second earlier will get a score of 0. In reality, if we handle situations early, the safety will be higher than if we handle them late.

Therefore, I think that a 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 scale should be designed for the process of handling situations: Early, correct and late. That means if the situation is handled earlier, it should also be scored even if the score is not the maximum", Mr. Nghia suggested.

Software simulating traffic situations applied in training, testing, and granting of road motor vehicle driving licenses is regulated in Circular No. 38/TT-BGTVT dated October 8, 2019.

Accordingly, the simulation software includes 120 complex traffic situations such as driving on crowded streets, crossroads, railway intersections, highways, red lights, ferries, intersections, steep mountain passes, fog, heavy rain, slippery; day and night...

The software is built and installed on the computer system to display situations to students, and at the same time give requirements requiring students to apply knowledge of traffic laws and basic driving skills to answer within a certain time.

Next: 3 hours of mandatory driving in a virtual cabin: Even healthy students drop out due to dizziness and headaches

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