In December, Didzis Audiāns took a Road Traffic Safety Directorate (CSDD) driving exam in Valmiera. There was snow in the city and huge piles of snow had accumulated on the pavement along the edge of a narrow street.
“It was December 5, the roads were slippery. I drive, and I see a little kid playing in the drift,” Audiāns said. “I remember all the theory - a dangerous situation, so I was slowing down. When that kid slipped out into the road lane right before me, I stopped the vehicle completely. What the inspector said to me was why did you do that; you shouldn't have done it!”
When Audiāns parked after the exam, he was fully confident he had passed the exam.
“At the end of the exam at the CSDD, he [the inspector] explained to me that where that little kid fell out on the road, I shouldn't have braked. It was a brief conversation - go and press the button and apply for your next exam,” Audiāns said.
He explained that he had seen that the car behind was keeping enough distance, so he could brake safely. He also rejected the possibility that he had been able to avoid braking by driving around the child on the street.
“Narrow street, snowy on both sides and I think the cars were standing there too. There was no other way [..]. After road traffic regulations, if there is a dangerous situation on the road, the vehicle must be stopped completely,“ Audiāns noted.
As Audiāns had just filed a submission challenging the exam results at the time of the LTV story being filmed, the CSDD declined specific comment on Audiāns' situation because the exam video has not yet been watched and the Commission has not made its decision.
Alberts Krūmiņš, deputy head of the Riga region of the CSDD, predicts that in this case it will be evaluated whether Audiāns was able to avoid rapid braking.
“The regulations state that rapid braking is only permissible in the event of an emergency. And if we've made it to an emergency in the exam and it's provoked by us, I think it's not a good result. As a Member of the Commission, I will certainly see how quickly the video footage shows signs of someone walking out onto the road in traffic. [..] In traffic, many things come with experience. How we see and how we react to some signs – movement, something like that,” Krūmiņš admitted.
Statistics show that 0.2% of all exam results are contested by the Commission, while the Commission changes the exam rating on average in each thirtieth case. It is also possible to challenge the Commission's decision before the Administrative Court, but so far there has been no precedent for the court to change the outcome of the examination.
LTV also asked an experienced driving instructor, director of “Safe Driving School,” Jānis Vanks whether there was any possibility at all that a driver would not have to brake if a person suddenly appeared on the carriageway. His reaction is a categorical no. However, when it comes to assessing the driving test in the light of the instructor's experience, he also considers it necessary to assess whether there were opportunities to avoid it even before the dangerous situation occurred.
The instructor stressed the driver's job was to “collect information from the road all the time” to understand what the situation was and assess how to proceed.
