How to turn a drama into a crisis!

Date of Test: August 2012
Test Centre: Upton
Reason for fail: Turn in Road, Observation; Move off, Safely.

Carrie Ann was nervous. She always is when what she's doing is put under scrutiny. She's never liked tests of any kind, and the Driving test was something she'd been dreading.

Still despite her fear, she was prepared to have a go, and so it was that in August 2012, she presented herself at Upton driving test centre for her second attempt.

Generally, she coped well with the drive but two things happened that caused her to fail.

Firstly, she did the reversing component of the turn in the road by looking out of her front windscreen instead of looking where she was going. This meant she was far more likely to bump into the kerb, but more importantly, if anything had been behind her, like a pedestrian or cyclist, she would not have seen them. She picked up a serious fault for observation.

I was sat in the back for this one, and I could see the examiner's test sheet. He didn't actually mark the fault until the end of the test, so I hoped he might just mark it as a minor fault. Perhaps if the second thing hadn't happened, he would have.

The second thing was a right turn at the end of a one way street in Irby.

Carrie Ann was unsure of herself here. Moving to the right hand side of the road often feels wrong even though it's the correct thing to do if you're turning right. But, slightly hesitantly, she got herself in the right place. The junction offers good visibility to the left, but it's not quite as open from the right.

Carrie Ann moved forward far enough to get a clear view to the right. The road was clear to her left, but there was a bus approaching from the right. This bus was a fair distance away, and there was a gap for her to get into. She attempted to move away, but had forgotten to change into gear one. As she brought her clutch up, the car stalled.

Carrie Ann panicked and pressed her brake pedal. This caused her to stop in the middle of the road, and forced the bus to have to stop. Eventually, she got the car running, put the car into gear one, made sure it was safe to move off, and off she went.

Most people have a misconception. That misconception is that you move away by bringing your clutch up. But what you should really do is get your footwork sorted before you move away. Us instructors call it setting your gas and finding your bite. Pressing the accellerator provides the engine with the power it needs to move a ton of metal from a standing start. The clutch controls that power. So when you move away, you do it by keeping your feet still. Releasing the handbrake will make the car move smoothly forward, even if you're in second gear.

But everyone stalls from time to time. If you want to really cause a problem to other people with your stall, you should slam on your brakes as well.

Alternatively, what you can do is put your clutch down and start your engine. If you stalled because you brought your clutch up, make sure it's still safe to go, and just move away without bringing your clutch up. If you stalled because you were in the wrong gear, put the car into the right gear, make sure it's still safe to go, and move away withough bringing your clutch up.

3 point turn

Date: March 2006
Test Centre: Ellesmere Port
Reason for fail: Serious fault, turn in road - observation

Michael pulled up on the left here, and the examiner asked him to turn the car around to face the other way.

Michael did it properly until just before he'd finished. He'd completed reversing, and got ready to move forward, but didn't check to see if it was clear to his left before he went. There could have been something coming, and the examiner had to give him a serious fault.

So if Michael had looked left he'd have passed his test?

In this case, apart from a handful of minor faults, that missed observation was the only thing he did wrong, and he would have passed if he'd taken a moment to look.

Left? Which one?

Date: June 2011
Test Centre: Wallasey
Reason for fail: Serious fault, Turning Left - Observation

David was asked to take the next road on his left. There are two ways into the side road - The slip lane you can see with the parked cars in it, and a more conventional T-Junction, which is mainly used by traffic turning right into the side road.

Not being that familiar with Wallasey, David saw the "T" part of the junction, and turned left there. However, since the majority of people turning left there would use the slip road bit, and join the same bit of road that David was now going into, it was important that he looked left as he completed the turn. Unfortunately, he didn't do this, and the examiner had to give him a serious fault. Shame really, as he only picked up a handful of minor faults, and would have easily passed if it wasn't for this error.

Look where you're going!

Date: 2006
Test Centre: Wallasey
Reason for fail: Serious fault, Junctions - Observation

Busy town centre streets. Shops and offices. People want to go to and from here, and the islands to the left of the picture allows pedestrians to cross these busy roads one bit at a time.

Steve came to this junction, intent on finding out if there was anything coming from his right. The way was clear, so he emerged, only for the examiner to press the dual brake because there was a lady with a pushchair crossing the road to his left.

Well I'd fail him for that too! So why didn't he look where he was going?

It's a really common thing, both with learners and with experienced drivers. To look right is a natural thing. To look left is counter-intuitive, and I spend a lot of time getting people to focus most of their attention on where they are going. A lot of the time, that look right is useless, since all you can see is a wall or a hedge or a fence.

You must check it's clear to your right before you emerge, but really, the danger comes from the left, not the right. People cut corners when turning right into the junction you're coming up to. The road you want to turn into could have a car coming down on the wrong side of the road if there are parked vehicles forcing them out. And yes, there could be pedestrians crossing.

Look left, glance right.

It's just a shame that's all...

Date: April 2010
Test Centre: Upton
Reason for fail: Turn in Road - Observation

Kathryn was asked to do a turn in the road. She got ready, checked it was clear around her and moved slowly across the road. She stopped, and put her handbrake on, then prepared herself, and made sure it was clear around her. As she reversed slowly back, she saw an old man walking along the pavement. Alert to the possibility that might walk out into the road, she kept still and waited until he had gone past and then continued to reverse, before putting her handbrake on, getting ready, checking around and completing the manouevre.

Huh? She got a serious fault for that? Why?

She had been sat still for quite a long time in the middle of the road, and didn't look both ways before continuing. If a cyclist had been coming or something she might have hit them. The examiner had no option but to give her a serious fault. If she'd looked around after waiting for the pedestrian, or if she hadn't waited for him in the first place, she wouldn't have got the fault. her kindness turned around and bit her on the ass.