Driving Test

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Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
Its a limit, not a target, one should not be forced to go the limit if they are not comfortable with it, ie 60mph on small country roads.
That's very true, but the amount of people who do insist on going that 10mph less than the speed limit on roads where it is perfectly safe to do said speed limit, it can get really annoying for the people stuck behind.
There are a few country roads that are 60mph that I have to go along when I visit my friends, no chance I'm going 60mph along there cos its quite bendy and it just wouldn't be safe, but I'm mostly talking about roads where its perfectly safe enough to go at the speed limit.
 

DeadEyeDuk

Superhero Level Poster
Its the "I shall go 40mph on all roads" people that are the worst.

National speed limit zone? 40
50 zone? 40
40 zone? Oddly usually 35 or 45
30 zone? 40
Motorways? Don't be silly, they don't go on them...too scary :)
 

kruppsy

Master
That's very true, but the amount of people who do insist on going that 10mph less than the speed limit on roads where it is perfectly safe to do said speed limit, it can get really annoying for the people stuck behind.

You were stuck behind someone this morning weren't you Rakk! :)

I think the problem here is that peoples perception of 'safe' will vary wildly. Experience is a key player and we aren't all the same, that's just the way it is unfortunately.
 

Grimezy

Prolific Poster
Yea I agree with Rakk, bendy country lanes are perfectly fine to drive down at 40mph'ish, on clear single carriageways it can get frustrating being 20mph below the speed limit and you will see this when you pass your test.

We weren't talking about 60mph roads initially though, the fault was for doing 18mph on a 30mph road which is fair enough if it's very congested or if there's only enough room for 1 car due to parked cars along the side, etc, but if it's on a normal 30mph and 18mph was your maximum speed limit then that is far too slow. I would struggle to cruise at 18mph as it's probably on the line where I'd be thinking about changing up to 3rd due to it revving a bit high but by changing up to 3rd that early I would be losing all my revs and my car would hate me for it.

So yes, the limit isn't a target, but really there's no excuse on a 30mph road. In a new car you can get to that easily in 2nd gear and then flick into 3rd to cruise along. Like I said though, if it's a busy road with not a lot of room down it then 20mph would be acceptable, I highly doubt your examiner would fail you if it was that situation though.
 

DeadEyeDuk

Superhero Level Poster
I passed my test when it was raining and I had no idea where the rear wiper button/lever was (never used it while learning oddly...was always dry!). Somehow matey boy didn't actually notice this, but was proper panicking at the time!
 

Grimezy

Prolific Poster
Motorways? Don't be silly, they don't go on them...too scary :)

Are they the same people that when they do go on the motorway they treat the slip road like a give-way junction and stop to see if they can merge into the traffic?

I had one of them the other day.... Slip roads are pretty vital for me to gain appropriate speed by killing my gearbox doing 70 in 3rd, I do not like it when people interupt that by stopping slap-bang in the middle of the sliproad.
 

nathanjrb

Prolific Poster
Well, I don't like to brag but....

Passed 1st time with 1 minor.

:)

The minor was for "being slightly too wide when reversing around a corner" - which to be honest I thought was a loada bull but never mind :)
 

nathanjrb

Prolific Poster
I passed my test when it was raining and I had no idea where the rear wiper button/lever was (never used it while learning oddly...was always dry!). Somehow matey boy didn't actually notice this, but was proper panicking at the time!

It rained on my test too. Put the wipers on ok, but then I didn't notice when it stopped raining - it was only when they started scraping up the window I realised hahaha
 

bigben

Master Poster
Yea I know a couple of people like this. I think it's pretty awful when it takes somebody that many tests, there should be a cut-off really where they say look, you're clearly not made to drive and you should come back in a few years and try again. To drive at an acceptable level 1 time out of 10 is just ridiculous

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...st-driver-fails-record-107-test-attempts.html

I passed first time with 6 minors - 3 for driving too fast for the road conditions, 2 for driving too fast on approach to junctions, 1 for not doing enough observation while reversing round the corner. The examiner loved me, my friends had written "left" on my right arm and "right" on my left arm in permanent marker, really handy.. Also, it was Friday the 13th :)
 

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
I passed first go as well,and no one was more surprised than me.
In those days one of the first things you were tested on was an emergency stop,I went into a skid but kept the car under reasonable control,I was convinced at that point I had already failed.
Then the windows started misting up,and as I was driving a friends car for the first time due to my own being off the road,I had no idea how to turn on the blower to clear the screen,lol talk about panic.
Kept as cool as I could though and opened the windows to clear it,couldn't believe it when the guy told me I had passed, :)
 

Wozza63

Biblical Poster
Yea I agree with Rakk, bendy country lanes are perfectly fine to drive down at 40mph'ish, on clear single carriageways it can get frustrating being 20mph below the speed limit and you will see this when you pass your test.

We weren't talking about 60mph roads initially though, the fault was for doing 18mph on a 30mph road which is fair enough if it's very congested or if there's only enough room for 1 car due to parked cars along the side, etc, but if it's on a normal 30mph and 18mph was your maximum speed limit then that is far too slow. I would struggle to cruise at 18mph as it's probably on the line where I'd be thinking about changing up to 3rd due to it revving a bit high but by changing up to 3rd that early I would be losing all my revs and my car would hate me for it.

So yes, the limit isn't a target, but really there's no excuse on a 30mph road. In a new car you can get to that easily in 2nd gear and then flick into 3rd to cruise along. Like I said though, if it's a busy road with not a lot of room down it then 20mph would be acceptable, I highly doubt your examiner would fail you if it was that situation though.

The guy claims I was doing 18mph, when I wasn't. I was maintaining at least 25mph, I was dodging parked cars and stuff at that speed, and was slowing down for meet situations with oncoming cars, I think it was at that point he got the figure 18mph. I know that I was in 3rd down the road which he was talking about, and the car would have been stuttering if I was going 18 the whole time.

And surely, even if I was doing 18mph along one road that would result in a single minor and not 3 of them? He said that it was only the one road that I was going slow down and that everywhere I else I was doing appropriate speeds, even though I was doing an appropriate speed that wasn't 18mph
 

Grimezy

Prolific Poster
If it's purely for one incident of driving slowly then yes, I would say it was very harsh, if that was the case they should round up all the grannies and make them take their tests again.

Perhaps it is worth an appeal then, it is possible though that he just didn't think your overall drive was good enough on the day. He may have felt you were too hesitant on multiple occasions or maintained too slow of a speed on multiple occasions without actually marking it as a minor. Did you raise these concerns with him when you were in the car afterwards or did you just leave once he'd told you the results? :\
 

Wozza63

Biblical Poster
If it's purely for one incident of driving slowly then yes, I would say it was very harsh, if that was the case they should round up all the grannies and make them take their tests again.

Perhaps it is worth an appeal then, it is possible though that he just didn't think your overall drive was good enough on the day. He may have felt you were too hesitant on multiple occasions or maintained too slow of a speed on multiple occasions without actually marking it as a minor. Did you raise these concerns with him when you were in the car afterwards or did you just leave once he'd told you the results? :\

He said that the rest of the time I was fine, it was just that road. and I can probably understand one of the minors for undue hesitation.

No I didn't say anything at the time, I was pretty upset and annoyed and trying not to shout anything at him.

Surely if something is a minor then it should be listed, you don't get only half an exam marked or just left do you? Its given a right or a wrong on every question. And this is one of the reasons I'm complaining because he hasn't gone through the correct procedure for marking my test.
 

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
He said that the rest of the time I was fine, it was just that road. and I can probably understand one of the minors for undue hesitation.

No I didn't say anything at the time, I was pretty upset and annoyed and trying not to shout anything at him.

Surely if something is a minor then it should be listed, you don't get only half an exam marked or just left do you? Its given a right or a wrong on every question. And this is one of the reasons I'm complaining because he hasn't gone through the correct procedure for marking my test.
Like Rakk said Wozza,sometimes life just isn't fair,best forget about it and concentrate on your next test.
 

bigben

Master Poster
The guy claims I was doing 18mph, when I wasn't. I was maintaining at least 25mph,

What car were you driving? I learnt in a Fiesta which had the speedo etc. set back into the dash so that only the driver could see it. As a result the instructor / examiner had to rely on a sat nav, which my instructor told me never actually showed an accurate speed - it always said you were going slower than you actually were.
 
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