Standards?
The government’s Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is based in Croydon Street in the Easton area of Bristol. It is based in Berkeley House (not to be confused with its city centre namesake which houses students. Ed.), former headquarters of the Bristol Omnibus Company.
According to its Wikipedia page, the DVSA is responsible for:
- setting the standard for safe and responsible driving and riding;
- carrying out theory and practical driving tests for all types of motor vehicles;
- maintaining the register of approved driving instructors;
- approving training bodies and instructors to provide compulsory basic training and direct access scheme courses for motorcyclists;
- running the tests that allow people to join and stay on the voluntary register of driver trainers who train drivers of car and van fleets;
- setting the standards for the drink-drive rehabilitation scheme, running the scheme and approving the courses that offenders can take;
- conducting annual testing of lorries, buses and trailers through authorised testing facilities (ATFs) and goods vehicle testing stations (GVTS);
- conducting routine and targeted checks on vehicles, drivers and operators ensuring compliance with road safety legislation and environmental standards;
- supervising the MOT scheme so that over 20,000 authorised garages carry out MOT tests to the correct standards;
- providing administrative support to the regional Traffic commissioners in considering and processing applications for licences to operate lorries, buses, coaches and registered bus services;
- conducting post-collision investigations;
- monitoring products for manufacturing or design defects, highlighting safety concerns and monitoring safety recalls;
- providing a range of educational and advisory activities to promote road safety.
However, judging from the present environs of Berkeley House, your correspondent wonders how good a job the DVSA is actually doing.
Firstly, there’s a toppled 20 mph sign at the junction of Lawrence Hill and Croydon Street immediately opposite the DVSA’s premises. The agency’s logo is on the sign behind the pale blue fence in the background to the crash site.
Now let’s move a bit further west down Croydon Street following the site’s blue-painted steel railings…
No further comment is necessary from your ‘umble scribe, except maybe to paraphrase Oscar Wilde’s Lady Bracknell: ‘To crash once Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to crash twice looks like carelessness.’. 😀