Test Centre: Wallasey, Merseyside
Reason for fail: serious fault, Response to signs/signals - road markings
As you approach this mini roundabout, the road widens and splits into two lanes. Normally, if you want to go straight ahead at a roundabout, you'd keep to the left, but here, arrows are painted on the road. They make the left hand lane exclusive to road users turning left. Everyone else should keep to the right.
Unfortunately, Rachel didn't read the arrow, and went straight ahead from the left hand lane. Occasionally, if queueing traffic makes the road markings impossible to see, the examiner will tell the candidate where to put themselves, but on this occasion, the road was clear, and she should have read it.
The danger in putting yourself in the left hand lane here is two-fold.
First of all, if another car, also intending to go straight ahead, had come alongside, to the right, there would be a risk of a side to side crash, as both cars attempt to squeeze into a single lane beyond the roundabout.
Secondly, if anyone was waiting to emerge from the left, they could pull out, thinking you intended to turn left.
So was there any way she could have passed at that point?
Well, believe it or not, yes!
Obviously, it's better to read the clues around you, like road signs and road markings, but everyone gets it wrong now and again.
The rules reflect this, and if you do end up in the wrong lane, you should try to do the safest thing. Many people fail their tests because they panic and try to change lane when it's not safe to do so. Often, the safest course of action is just to go the wrong way.
If Rachel had just turned left, she would have been in the correct lane for what she did, and would cause less confusion and danger to other drivers, so she'd have got a minor fault for not signalling, instead of a serious fault for not reading the paint. It would then be up to the examiner to direct her back onto whatever route she should have been on.
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