Driving license transfer???????

but I find the fact that the DVLA requires people who have been driving accident-free for ten or twenty years or more to take a practical test as well to be more than a bit annoying.

If you are annoyed enough about it - like I was, or feel strongly enough about it, there is a remedy and I'm happy to share that.  

It's a type of proceeding they have in the UK called "judicial review".  And when you win in a JR, they change the rule.  All you have to do is make an air-tight case that the rule is not reasonable or did not envision your circumstances.  

From my own experience, a judicial review is not for the timid or fainthearted.  But it is absolutely available for those who have endured unreasonable decisions from the government, and without doubt it works.  That's for sure.

The rules for launching a JR would be on the DCA web site.  

Hopefully being left-handed will actually turn out to be an advantage for once in my life. 

You'll probably make an odd slip-up whether left or right-handed and whatever the car just through habit. 

I had to drive a friend's Land Rover back home for him a little while ago, and it's the first time I'd driven a RHD vehicle in I don't know how long.   I started off fine, but he thought it was hilarious when we got a little way down the road and I went to change gear with the door handle.        

If you are annoyed enough about it - like I was, or feel strongly enough about it, there is a remedy and I'm happy to share that. 

It's a type of proceeding they have in the UK called "judicial review".  And when you win in a JR, they change the rule.  All you have to do is make an air-tight case that the rule is not reasonable or did not envision your circumstances. 

From my own experience, a judicial review is not for the timid or fainthearted. 

Interesting!  Sadly, I am not *that* annoyed about it - or perhaps I'm just too faint-hearted.      I don't think the rule is reasonable, but I don't think it's likely to change anytime soon, regardless of what I think - not when there's a simple solution (taking the practical test).  Alas...

I got my license in Tennessee and just had to pull out of the lot, do 4 right hand turns, and pull back into the parking space. Nothing like the Massachusetts test where you have to parallel park, do a 3-point turn, back up in a straight line...

My test (in Georgia) was conducted on a closed course at the local DMV office, in my own car, with a radio in the passenger's seat and an officer keeping a close eye on me (and giving me commands to follow) from the observation platform overlooking the course.  It was absolutely nothing like real-life, and I don't think that simply passing that sort of test and receiving a full driving license should automatically qualify one to be able to exchange a Georgia license for a UK one without taking the practical.  I really don't.  However, I *do* think that one's driving history - in my case, one that includes over a decade of accident- and citation-free driving in nine states and three countries, navigating traffic in such cities as Atlanta, Boston, Manhattan, and the Disney side of Orlando (each notorious in their own way), and including such adverse weather conditions as near-hurricane force winds, snow, ice and hail - *should* be taken into account when considering whether an applicant should be able to exchange their license or should have to re-take a practical test. 

I realize such a change in the rules would require a bit more work on the part of the DVLA, and that as such it's rather open to interpretation, but surely for every one of us who has to re-take that practical there's another person from a "designated" country with little to no driving experience that walks away with an exchanged license - and that's what gets my goat. 

</ rant>

Maybe if someone could do the Judicial Review process and they took your years of experience and driving record into account, rather than just have an automatic transfer for everyone... I think it would be nice to have a rule change, but like others have said, I don't mind the rule enough to go through that process.

Say a person with a minimum of 5-10 years driving experience can have theirs automatically transferred as long as they meet a quota for driving infractions.

Something like that would acknowledge the driving skills of a person who has driven for a long time, but not grant a free pass to someone who has just passed the test, in an easier testing site.