Sat in on driving test of a young relative yesterday (I have taught him to
> drive). For first 20 mins, examiner makes absolutely no marks on his test
> sheet. He then orders driver to turn right at traffic lights from a dual
> laned (not a proper dual carriageway) road into a right hand two laned road
> on which cars were parked on left. Road marking indicate you should go out
> into middle of traffic lights and then turn - as my driver does so, vehicle
> behind him cuts across on my driver's offside - my driver halts, checks
> other driver has stopped and then proceeds - result - a serious fault marked
> down - test failed!!!! I think the examiner did not see the "cut up" > driver.
Difficult to understand fully without hearing more but this does sound questionable/unlucky (whichever way you look at it).
Another serious fail for following through behind a car that had been
> "flashed through" by vehicle at other end of a road restricted by vehicles
> parked on left. My driver made sure it was ok before he move just like I
> taught him - examiner said he should not have followed through..
I thought that this was a no-no during the test, although of course we all do it (even examiners) during normal life. It's not clear from the Highway Code. But on this one at least I think your examiner was in the right, technically. I was taught that if this happens during the test, you just have to ignore the flashes and wait.
I would STRONGLY recommend you get your relative on a couple of lessons with a qualified instructor. No matter how good a driver you are, unless you are in the business you won't know what little things like the above you will need to know to pass. My mother taught me - she was a retired driving instructor, but nonetheless I booked a couple of hours with a current instructor to polish up the last few bits. If I hadn't known these little extras I would have failed.
It's "max 15 minor errors to still pass", as opposed to "7 minors out of a possible max of 15", so he didn't get 50% wrong - not sure what the max possible faults is but hopefully nobody's reached that point yet without being pulled over...
David> I thought that this was a no-no during the test, although David> of course we all do it (even examiners) during normal life. David> It's not clear from the Highway Code. But on this one at David> least I think your examiner was in the right, technically. David> I was taught that if this happens during the test, you just David> have to ignore the flashes and wait.
This is a bit of an awkward one really. Follow through overtakes are specifically warned against in the highway code. IIRC, you'd fail an IAM test for this one too. Also, the highway code specifically says that a headlight flash should be interpreted as being the same as someone using the horn - ensuring you are aware of their presence, nothing more, nothing less. So on either basis the examiner was right to bring attention to this. Whether or not it should have constitued a fail is something I'm not qualified to comment on.
I'd be the first to admit there is an element of luck in the driving test especially when these kind of things turn up where you are expected to drive in a different way to a normal driver.
David> I would STRONGLY recommend you get your relative on a David> couple of lessons with a qualified instructor. No matter David> how good a driver you are, unless you are in the business
Seconded.
--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Andy Cunningham aka AndyC the WB | andy -at- cunningham.me.uk |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |
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Twas Thu, 27 Nov 2003 17:08:21 GMT when "Exit" put finger to keyboard producing:
My Dad always used to say "you learn how to pass your test, then you learn how to drive".
-- Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.) ___________________________________________________________ "To know the character of a man, give him anonymity" - Mr.Nice.
After hearing one of my parents friends saying how they passed their driving test after spending most of it stuck in stationary traffic, if i ever have to do another drving test (hope not) i'll be happily waiting for ages at junctions and not going if people flash me! :)
I failed my first test when i was turning right on a dual carrage way at traffic lights (turning back into the test center too), and i pulled forwards across the line (with the queue of traffic), and paused before turning. There was no filter light and the turning was about 1.5 car lengths ahead of the line. I now know that you are not supposed to cross the line until the exit is clear, and you can do it in one move. In my driving since passing I still dont think i've actually done it properly many times!, it just isnt practical!
Oh, there's a world of difference between what you should do on the test and what you actually have to do when you're on the road.
Swerving a 18ton bus round idiots who pull out in front of you isn't in the test, but I've had to do it too many times. Ditto locking all four wheels in a good impersonation of a death slide. Mind you, I'm not sure what you should do if it happens in the test. Ram them, I presume. Is that a pass or fail?
Fail: "At no point during the examination did you put the vehicle into top gear" Pass: "It's a Vauxhall Viva that was made before I was born. It only *has* 4 gears"
Fail: "You were persistantly 5mph below the posted limit" Pass: "My instructor told me to tell you that as this car has a linear speedo rather than a circular one it *always* seems to read 5mph below from the passengers seat" (I'd actually gone over the limit a few times, but didn't tell him that)
Fail: "You had your indicators on while reversing around a corner" Confusion: "I had to. This car doesn't have reverse lights" "Argh! We've been out in a non road-worthy car!" Pass "The car was made in 1973. It doesn't have to have reverse lights. This one doesn't strictly need seatbelts either"
Fail: "You performed a U turn when asked to turn using forward and reverse gears" Pass: "You would notice that I reversed 2 feet up the road before doing a U turn" (The Viva could out-turn a London taxi, and I'm arsed if I'm failing a test because I've piddled around in the middle of the road - my instructor had made it quite clear on the practise runs that when he says forward *and* reverse he means it)
All in all, a somewhat pissed off examiner, probably not helped by it being January 3rd in Scotland and the roads being somewhat icy along with a car that only just had a working heater.
It just so happens that most cars have them fitted, and if fitted they must be working.
In fact it's been quite a long time since I've seen *any* family saloon model introduced without reversing lights. I think the poor dear must have forgotten about the bad old days.
I had a large lorry in front of me (fixed cab thing, not tractor-trailer; with an extra trailer attached, carrying bales of hay stacked some 10' in height) and an identical one _right_up_my_arse_. Front lorry went through the lights and by the time I saw them they were red. I decided it was too late to stop and went through.
Examiner said at the end of the test "Do you realise you went through a red light?" I said yes and told him I thought it was dangerous to stop as the lorry behind was so close. He agreed and passed me.
It's "max 15 minor errors to still pass", as opposed to "7 minors out of a
Hi David,
In 1989 on my first driving test the examiner asked me 10 minutes into the test if I was trying to kill him. I had emerged from behind parked cars into the path of a speeding lorry. He slammed the brakes on and grabbed the wheel and threw us towards the kerb. He needed a stiff drink.
I looked ever so innocent and asked if maybe I had failed.(later on that day a friend also went with the same examiner and she narrowly missed being hit by a bus, he asked her to stop the car and abandoned the test for public safety, he walked half a mile back to the test centre.)
I then practised like mad and did 60 hours of driving and 40 hours of lessons and took my test a month later and passed with one minor fault. The examiner asked me if I had thought of becoming an examiner as I was exceptional.
Mmmmm if only he could see me theses days, I got stopped by the Police on Tuesday for forgetting to put my lights on. I had just pulled away from a shop and had moved 30 yards when he pulled me over. I have to admit though that I don't ever speed, which was something I was taught rigourously not to do on the course I trained to drive on. I hasten to add it was a Police Driving Course. My wife was secretary to the course so she asked if they would help me to learn to drive. They took me out for 40 hours in one week and I learned an awful lot, especially about skids, weather conditions and observations. Scariest bit was on my second day of driving to be doing 70 mph around Bromsgrove (on the dual carriageway) and being told that I could not slow down from 70 mph. They drilled into me as well that the flashing of lights means that the other driver is there and nothing else. On my first day I spent 8 hours driving around Birmingham City Centre in a continuos circle as Dave who taught me reckoned that this would teach me clutch control - it did.
Andy
Discovery 200TDI - so modified I forget how much I have done (I love my new gearbox though).
Job today, power washing again the underside of the Disco to get it into the heated garage this week and Waxoyl it.
Very true, my first anxious moments in a landie after more than ten years absence from clutch and gearstick was like lerning again, as was driving an auto for the first time in the inbetween years.
An ex colleague of mine took his HGV test and the examiner did the same got out refused to continue the test and walked back after about 2 mins Oh he never lived that one down Andy
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