How to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

This is the junction of Church Street and Brighton Street in Wallasey. If you travel 100 yards further you will be right outside Wallasey test centre.

This is also the junction where Pete failed his test. As he approached the lights, they changed from green to amber. Pete had time to stop, but chose to accellerate through the lights. The examiner pressed the dual brake and stopped him, because there was a vehicle coming the other way that had been waiting to turn right. If Pete had gone through, he would have left the other driver stranded as cross traffic started to move.

The last one was about traffic lights too, wasn't it?

It was indeed! If you're approaching a red light, your course of action is clear. You get ready to stop. A green light is far trickier. What I advise my pupils to do is to recognise a green light as a hazard. As you come towards it, check your mirror. Don't wait for the light to change before you assess whether it would be safe to stop or not, particularly if you can see the lights have been green for a while. An amber light means stop, and although it's not always safe to brake hard if you're close to the lights when they change, if you can stop safely, you should.

Queue this side please!

Date: August 2011
Test Centre: Wallasey
Reason for fail: Serious fault, Response to signs/signals - Road Markings.

Mike would have passed if the lights had changed a couple of seconds earlier or later. That's just the way it goes sometimes. Here's what happened...

Mike was travelling towards Liscard along Wallasey Road. As he approached the traffic lights, they changed from green to amber.

Mike checked his mirrors, and saw there was someone behind him. Because of this, he braked in a way that meant he stopped, not behind the stop line, or even in the red bit that cyclists use. Mike stopped with the nose of his car on the pedestrian crossing bit.. He knows what he should have done, and can't explain why he decided to do what he did.

But what should he have done instead?

When you approach a green light, particularly if it's been green for a while, or if you don't know how long it's been on green, you should be prepared for the fact that it might change. Don't wait until it changes before you check your mirror. Check anyway, then if the light does change, you have the information you need to decide if it's safe to stop or not. Also, it's a good idea just to let the car roll through, with your feet covering the brake and clutch, rather than being on your gas pedal. If the light stays green, you can then just go back on the gas. Rolling through means the car goes just a few miles and hour slower. This feels far better from the passenger side. It shows you're aware of the hazard.

If there is a vehicle close behind you, it's sometimes safer just to keep going through, even with the light on amber, than it is to attempt to stop suddenly. Mike got caught between stopping and going. His indecision took him a few yards further than he should have been, and cost him his test pass.

The roundabout of doom!

Date: August 2011
Test Centre: Upton
Reason for fail: Serious fault, Use of mirrors - change direction

Poor Steve.

He managed to pick up two serious faults on his driving test. One of them at the same roundabout where he failed last time, although for a different reason.

He did, however, manage to fail at a different roundabout for more or less the same reason that he failed on the other roundabout last time, if you see what I mean?

Steve has been nervous throughout his training, and although he's now relaxed as a driver, he's still nervous when under test conditions.

This time, he was asked to turn right at the Sainsbury's roundabout. A car came from the right and turned left rather late. Steve was spooked, and stopped with the nose of the car stuck out into the roundabout, causing other vehicles to have to move around him.

To compound this, he then stalled, which moved him even further on to the roundabout, before finally moving away.

As he was heading back to the test centre, during the "Independent driving" part of the test, Steve was asked to go straight ahead at the roundabout he stalled at on his previous attempt.

Steve joined the roundabout correctly, but somehow got mixed up about which way he was going. He moved right without checking his mirror, then moved back to the left, and then turned right (from an incorrect road position)

Uh oh! But how could Steve have done it better?

Both of these faults were down to nerves.

Nervous people rush. They approach things too quickly to be able to judge properly. If Steve had approached the first roundabout more slowly, he'd have had more time to assess what other road users were doing, and would not have panicked. If, after stopping, he'd moved away smoothly, instead of trying to do what I call "fleeing the scene of the crime", he might have got away with a minor fault.

As ever, if you're in the wrong position, just go the wrong way. You're not trying to get the examiner to his wedding or anything. He just marks your driving, not your ability to remember instructions. Even if Steve had been asked to turn right, once he had positioned himself to the left as he joined, the safest thing to do would be just to go a different way to what he'd been asked.