This paper explains the development, content, evaluation, effectiveness, and future of the National Driver Improvement Scheme in the UK. The scheme is operated by 31 police forces in conjunction with local authority Road Safety Units or private sector driver training bodies. It arose from the Road Traffic Law Review of 1988, many of whose recommendations were incorporated in the Road Traffic Act 1991. The review team made the additional recommendation, not in the Act, that there should be a pilot scheme of one-day retraining in basic skills for offenders against the Act, to find out if it permanently improved their driving skills. The present Scheme arose from the Driver Rectification Scheme, developed by Devon County Council, Devon & Cornwall Constabulary, and the Crown Prosecution Service, and was launched in 1991. The National Driver Improvement Scheme aims to improve the driving skills, attitude, and behaviour of any driver attending one of its courses, to reduce the driver's likelihood of being involved in a later blameworthy accident. Course content includes theory and practice of driving, accident study, and a Highway Code test. The Scheme is evaluated by drivers and monitored by scheme centres; the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) commissioned its own evaluation in 1997.
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