Question When Approaching a tunnel it is good advice to:
a) Put on your sunglasses b) Check tyre pressures.
c) Change to a lower gear d) Tune your radio to the local channel
Passing your test could depend on choosing the correct answer which is;- Tune your radio to the local channel. A reader from the telegraph was puzzled . The Highway Code warns against such distractions and even if you know the local radio frequency you cannot receive the signal in a tunnel. The correspondence from the DSA failed to produce an explanation, although the following was received from the policy department.
I apologise for your difficulty in getting this question answered. The requirement for this Theory Test question comes from an EU directive. The DSA was asked to do this after the St Gothard and Mont Blanc tunnel fires in the late 1990′s in which a number of people lost their lives. After this radio transmitters were placed in the road traffic tunnel. If a driver were to tune to the correct frequency, they would be warned of any fires or other dangerous occurrence in the tunnels. This is because drivers may not be able to get out of the tunnel if not forewarned! The contradiction between the Highway Code and this question is because we have few, if any road traffic tunnels in the UK, and it is more a Continental concern.
So now we know know. Thank goodness the DSA is working hard to improve British driving standards. Perhaps we should also install speed camera’s at Britain’s “few if any” tunnel’s and fine anyone who exceeds the limit while fiddling with their radio in search of Smashey and (white noise to fade).
This came from the Telegraph Motoring December 1st, 2007
