You're not allowed to go that way!

Date: May 2006
Test Centre: Wallasey
Reason for Fail: Serious fault, Response to signs/signals - Traffic signs

Normally, it doesn't matter too much if you go the wrong way. As long as you do it correctly and safely, it doesn't really matter if you don't go the way you've been asked to go.

But there are exceptions. Attempting to drive onto a motorway is one of those exceptions. Attempting to enter a one way street from the wrong end will be looked upon in a poor light too.

In this case, Lindsey had come over from Liverpool for lessons because she was nervous about the heavy city traffic, and thought Wirral might be less intimidating. She was nervous on her test and got flustered as she approached a busy motorway intersection roundabout.

The examiner gave her a serious fault because she should have known that as a learner she wasn't allowed to drive on a motorway.

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.

Righting wrongs

Date: January 2011
Test Centre: Upton
Reason for fail: Serious fault, Use of Mirrors - Change speed

This is a fairly busy roundabout between Greasby and Upton. It has a small niche of a road off to your right, that leads into a short dead end, where people sometimes park their cars. This causes people to signal late if they want to take the exit before the one that's being approached in the picture above.

Steve came to this situation on his driving test. Unsure of whether he had a safe gap, he didn't really get himself sorted out, and he stalled because he was going much too slowly for third gear.

Scott abruptly stopped the car, put his clutch down and his handbrake on. He started his engine, and put the car into gear one. Then he moved away safely. The abrupt stop caused the person behind to get very close, and they themselves had to do an emergency stop. Perhaps other people further back also had to stop very quickly.

OK. So everyone stalls now and again. How should you sort it out?

First thing to do was to check the mirror! Everyone gets it wrong from time to time, and if you do find yourself off the straight and narrow, you need to keep yourself safe. This means being aware of what's going on around you. Stopping suddenly may not be the best course of action, expecially approaching a roundabout, where the person behind you may well be looking right to see what's coming, instead of looking where they're going. In this case, what Scott should have done is put his clutch down, sort out first gear, and start his engine. Even if it meant going over the give way line a bit (the vehicle that caused Scott to panic had turned off to the left without signalling)

People stall for two main reasons. As Scott found, the car will stall if you slow down or stop in a a high gear, and the clutch up. The other time is when people move off, either bringing the clutch up too quickly, or in the wrong gear, or without enough revs. If you can minimise the effect your stall has on other road users, you're much more likely to get away with a minor fault than if you do something that causes other people to have to react sharply.

Always look before you leap

Date: June 2007
Test Centre: Wallasey
Reason for fail: Serious fault, Move off - Safely

This is the sort of road where an examiner might ask you to do an emergency stop. It's quiet. You can see a long way ahead and around.

The examiner asked Tim to do an emergency stop along this road. He gave the instruction, and Tim stopped promptly. The examiner then asked him to drive on. Tim got himself ready, and moved off. Unfortunately, a car was just starting to overtake him as he moved, and he hadn't checked around before releasing his handbrake.

So what observations should you make after doing an emergency stop?

You won't be parked at the side of the road. You'll be well away from the kerb. So it's important that you check that nothing is coming down your inside (a cyclist perhaps) and that nothing is overtaking you. Ideally you should look over both shoulders. Tim associated that blind spot check with moving away from the side of the road, but it also needs to happen here.

Keep left...

Date: May 2011
Test Centre: Upton
Reason for fail: Serious fault, Positioning - Normal driving

Liz has just gone through a set of traffic lights. She was in the right hand lane because a car was indicating left in the left lane, so she used the lights to overtake this slow moving vehicle safely. Unfortunately, she stayed out in the right lane, and wasn't going particularly quickly. When a car overtook her on the left, the examiner was always going to give her a serious fault.

What should Liz have done?

She should have been looking in her left door mirror to make sure she was past the car she was overtaking, with a view to getting back to the left as early as possible. By staying out to the right, she made it difficult for herself to get safely back over, because of cars coming up on her left. It would have been better if she'd been a bit more assertive, as she would have gained the space to move over safely. Accellerating while changing lane takes you away from the danger,

Is this a clue?

Date: June 2011
Test Centre: Wallasey
Reason for fail: Reverse Park (road) - Control.

John was asked to pull up on the left, and the examiner asked him to pull up alongside the parked car, and to reverse into the space behind it, parallel to and reasonably close to the kerb. John did the reverse, but because a part of the kerb was missing due to a driveway, he couldn't see quite where he was up to, and finished up a couple of feet away from the kerb.

At this point, the examiner ostentatiously looked out of his window at the kerb, and asked john if he had finished. John said that he had. Then the examiner made an obvious show of looking in his door mirror, and looked at John, asking, "Are you happy with that?" John agreed, and the examiner asked him to drive on.

But don't you have to get it right first time?

If you want to become a driving instructor, you have to do the parallel park on your advanced driving test, and you are expected to complete the manouevre without adjustment, but on the learner test, they're not as strict. If you find that you've ended up in the wrong place, you can drive forwards and correct things. But make sure you check around before you do. If you knock someone of his bike while doing it, you'll fail.

The examiner tried to give John a big clue that he wasn't happy with his position. Unfortunately, John, mainly because of nerves, failed to pick up on it.

When people are nervous, they rush.they want to get whatever it is that is making them nervous, over and done with.

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.