Who introduced driving test to get license?
The first DRIVING TEST was introduced under Rule III, Para 18, of the Paris Police Ordinance relating to the registration and licensing of motor vehicles of 14 August 1893. Tests were conducted under the supervision of the Chief Engineer of Mines, whose office included that of Inspector of Steam Motors in the Department of the Seine (`steam motors’ was interpreted to include any self-propelled vehicle). and included an examination of the candidate’s driving ability, his capacity to undertake running repairs, and his knowledge of the components of the engine. Candidates were required to be 21 years of age or over.
Driving tests were extended to the other department of France under the ‘Circulation des Automobiles’ Decree of 10 March 1899, and were administered from that date by the Ministere des Travaux Publics.
The first Englishman to take a driving test was the Hon. Evelyn Ellis, who passed his examination as an `autocar conductor’ while on a visit of Paris, February-March 1896. The driving examiner was M. Michel Levy.
In Britain driving tests were introduced by Mr Leslie Hore Belisha, Minister of Transport, and came into effect on a voluntary basis on 13 March 1935; they were official from 1 April 1935 and compulsory from 1 June 1935. All those who had taken out their first driving licence since 1 April 1934 were obliged to take a test. Initially the fee was 7 s 6 d, but this was reduced to 5 s on 1 June 1937 as it Was found the Driving Test Organization had made an unintended profit of £ 16,000 the previous year. There were originally 200 examiners, including 16 supervisors, chosen from a total of 34,000 applicants. Women examiners were employed from the start, the first to receive her appointment being Miss Muriel Gillham, originally from Sydney, Australia, who was based at the Dartford Driving Test Centre in the Metropolitan Traffic Area.
Britain was one of the last countries in Europe to bring in the test; by 1934 it was already compulsory in Austria, Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Spain, Germany, Turkey, Switzerland, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, France, Holland and Denmark. ‘L’ Plates and Provisional Licences became compulsory in Britain on the same date as driving tests.
