My wife has failed her fourth test; would the world be a safer place if she gave up?

Well that's supportive and encouraging! 😯 😆

Not necessarily. Being a good driver doesn't have much to do with how you pass your test. Look at how many knobs there are out there who passed first time.

Depends what she failed on and if she is learning or not.

Could she not just get one of those little buggies?

Little buggies?

Well she keeps failing for obvious things IMO – though I suppose they all are to experienced drivers. But I've seen plenty of people do what she has failed on.

Depends what she has failed on. Was it the same type of fault each time?

This time failed on 2 things:
Moved into right lane when there was a car there too close
When stopping on a slope rolled back a bit before putting the hand brake on

Last time:
When told to turn right at a roundabout went into the left lane.

I can't remember further back than that but it's always a few things like this. She's had so many lessons for a couple of years now maybe.

Sometimes I think people are failed too easily, but sometimes I wonder if the examiner can see they're not ready and finds the easiest things to fail them on, on purpose, if they think they're not up to scratch but have winged it elsewhere.

It's easy to pass the test if you follow rules word for word, I'd be concerned if someone couldn't do that even if they realised they were odd rules and didn't follow them at a later date. It would make me assume that they were unable to process the information fast enough for normal driving! One mistake/fail could be accepted as a mistake, but 3 – to me that suggests a basic inability to process things fast enough and apply rules, which I can't see improving much with time?!

I passed after 12 or 13 1hr lessons, because I can follow rules and didn't get in a flap about car control as it was more or less natural to me somehow. But I wouldn't say I was a good driver right away, that takes time and experience which I didn't have obviously.

Some bad drivers pass their test first time, and get worse from that point on. Some drivers pass first time and improve from that point on.

The instructor seems sure she has been ready to take the test for ages so maybe she just can't cope with the pressure of the test.

What makes it so stressful for her? Does she NEED to be able to drive? It is built up into something it's not? When I did my test it was more or less just like any normal driving lesson, only with a quick good luck from my family.

I passed my test on the fifth go*, so tell her to hang on in there.

*the first one where i had a female examiner 😆

I think you should get her out driving more, it may be a matter of nerves?

Some people are definitely not meant to drive – they do it because they believe they have some kind of divine right.

Remember that crazy old lady who took her test 20-odd times?

I would welcome mandatory a re-licence, say every 5 or 10 years, and I think I'd struggle to pass it which would make my job situation a bit worrying as I do drive around a fair bit.

We do seem to allow a lot of people to drive in this country using foreign licences that are supposed to be of similar standard, but we don't seem to enforce the mandatory conversion to a UK licence when they've lived here for 12 months… (36mth for EU).

Sounds to me like she needs more practice – you can rent cars from places like Arnold Clarks for that very purpose if you don't want to risk your own.

I helped a friend of mine a few times who failed his test 7 times before passing, he just needed somebody to sit in the car with him while he practiced driving around for a few hours, I think you need to be a licenced driver for five years or something.

(best done early in the morning at weekends btw, building up to rush hour traffic)

You don't get "second chances" in real life situations so you shouldn't get more than one attempt at your DT,
OK be fair maybe one retest but that's it.

And a retest every 10 years (minimum)….

but we don't seem to enforce the mandatory conversion to a UK licence when they've lived here for 12 months… (36mth for EU).

It does get enforced if they're detected driving on an old license. A friend of mine was forced to sit his conversion after his chinese 12 month "free" license expired IIRC, because his insurance company wanted proof of his license being a UK one.

You don't get "second chances" in real life situations

I know where you're coming from, but you do generally. I've seen dozens of near-accidents and masses of bad driving in my time, which suggests that in real life you get loads of chances to be a bad driver and most people get away with it.

She doesn't really need to drive – she'll be off on maternity leave soon and it's only for getting to work that it would really benefit her as the train trip is a pain – work is 12 miles but train route isn't direct and we are 1 1/2 miles from the station. I don't know if she'll go back to work anytime soon so maybe it doesn't really matter for a while.

I prefer to pay the instructor to take her out – but maybe she needs more time. I have a Puma now which isn't ideal for learning or for when the baby comes so am thinking about getting a Focus Estate and keeping the Puma off the road until she passes so maybe I could take her out in that.

A guy I work with took 7 attempts to pass his test…

After passing, he once drove his Kangoo into the back of the van in front of him. That van was being driven by another of our engineers on the way to the same job as him.

if they're detected
Watch any Police/Camera/Crash/Death/Action/Motorway/Madness/Stop programme for the penalties applied…

Memorable one was a family (Chinese origin) travelling S on M6 with the kid standing between the front seats. Flagged up for no insurance, pulled over, car impounded, said they'd only been in the country for a month (or something). Given some points and fine. Car cannot be released from compound without valid insurance documents entitling it to be driven away.

1 hour later, same family pulled over a few miles further south. Repeat scenario above.

Sorry, got ranty hat on – not really helping out the OP 😉

Little buggies?

I too am intrigued by this. I did think, when I was younger than I am now, that in 'The Future' people in cities would be driving around in little 1 and 2 person 'pods', probably electric or something. Sadly, it appears to have gone the other way, and they seem to prefer big bulky diesel tanks. Which then all get stuck in traffic jams.

I think little pod cars are the way forward.

I passed my test first time, had my first accident later that day, and my first write off 10 days later. I went on to crash every car I owned until I realised I'm a crap driver and strangely ive not had so much as a scrape since.
Tell her to persevere, a quick pass isnt everything.

You don't get "second chances" in real life situations so you shouldn't get more than one attempt at your DT,
OK be fair maybe one retest but that's it.

I don't agree, I failed for "pulling onto a dual carrigeway without indicating". In reality I did indicate, but it self canceled as the fiorst two wheels crossed the line, which apparently technicaly means its a fail 🙁

Second time I was just rubbish, kangarooing everywhere, but soemhow passed.

Asked my examiner and he said usualy they look at your previous test results and as long as you dont make the same mistake twice its a pass.

———————————————————————–

That and different people drive differently.

I look at a corner, estimate a speed I can comfortably make it round that corner without loosing grip, and being able to stop fairly promprly in the visible distance. Estimate a braking distance, turn in point, apex etc etc etc.

The missus, takes every corner slowly unless its on a route she normaly dirves in which case she knows how fast is safe from experience.

Both entirely different thought processes, but equaly safe.

i passed about 10 days ago, 2nd test.

national pass rate is now (according to my instructor) at 22%, down from around 42% 18 months ago – its getting harder to pass!

i drove far better in my first test (4 minors, one silly major that i'd not done before or since) than in my 2nd – 7 minors. annoyingly my practice test was totally clean, no minors.

real life experience (not driving lessons) helps loads, imo. driving instructors are there to instruct – its a lesson… i found it much more relaxing to drive with a friend, where i could just concentrate on driving and getting more confident.

imo beyond 5 or 6 tests, you gotta realise that perhaps its not going to happen…

I think little pod cars are the way forward.

Only if the only driving you do is in a city. And then, you'd be better having good public transport. So little pod cars aren't really a smart idea except for maybe if you're a city doctor.

I passed fifth time and then went to doing 20K+ plus miles a year straight away. I've never had an accident or a significant near miss. The test is difficult and stressful. It's not a bad idea to have a go with a different instructor, they can bring a fresh perspective, and some test centres are in quieter locations, which helps.

she'll be off on maternity leave soon

I assume this means she's pregnant? I can see how driving would be important for a mum, but perhaps this isn't the best time for the stress of driving tests…

Well they'd be better than loads of those Chelsea Tractors that clog up the roads. People aren't going to give up cars easily, so better to have smaller, safer, greener cars than great big bloody Death Stars all over the place.

It's simply about image. People don't want to be seen in little pod cars. If I ever mention a Smart car to anyone I know who drives, they look at me like I killed Diana. Even if they drive a shitty old car. Invariably, they drive around either alone or with just one other person. One mate even took the rear and passenger seats out of his car, a Vauxhall Viva I think. It might have been a Hillman Avenger. To 'save weight and petrol costs, an to have more luggage carrying capacity'. He was a bit odd though.

has she considered wearing a shorter skirt?

She's had quite a few instructors – over 1/2 dozen I reckon!

I think she would be OK without a car as can walk to the shops for small stuff and then I'd drive for the main shopping – I could do without that but never mind.

I passed on my fourth time at 31yo, I had taken my test 3 times when I was 17 and failed for various reasons, generally was really nervous at 17 but not later on.

I found that the driving instructor I had when I passed was very quick to identify why I was failing. I was leaving everything too late at junctions/roundabouts (basically every where you are tested!) and trying to get too much done too quickly. More often than not I was still doing evrything right but I still mucked up often enough as I didn't have the skill to process all the info and turn the wheel/brake/indicate/observe correctly. He taught me to relax, plan each situation in advance and start the processes earlier so by the time I got to the situation I was ready.

I passed with 2 minor faults!

One mistake/fail could be accepted as a mistake, but 3 – to me that suggests a basic inability to process things fast enough and apply rules, which I can't see improving much with time?!

I think after you have passed this ability becomes stronger over time, you might just need training how to do it to start off with. A good instructor will see these problems (like mine did) and work on them. I could do everything perfectly but just didn't plan enough time to do them in.

When you learn to drive things like clutch control and manouvering are things you need to think about so you can't process information as fast as your brain is busy. With more time controlling a car this becomes automatic, freeing up your head to think about the road situation more.

See if she thinks trying a new instructor is worthwhile, in reality she's probably having an affair with the current one and failing deliberately 😉

Probably more likely just nerves though so booking one hour pre-test lessons with different instructors might not be a bad thing. They might also be better able to spot more basic issues as have a different perspective.

I failed my test first time, I'd only ever done reversing around a bend on a 'average' curved bend but on my test the examiner made me do it around a 90 degree bend into a narrow street and I went too wide. On my re-test I was more nervous and stalled 3 times pulling away from the start of the test (was in a busy car park and pedestrians kept walking in front :p), was fine after that though so only got flagged as an issue rather than a fail.

I agree with mandatory retesting every 10 years though, it would be a PITA but nearly everyone picks up bad habits and a lot of people shouldn't still be driving.

The missus, takes every corner slowly unless its on a route she normaly dirves in which case she knows how fast is safe from experience.

That sounds like a very dangerous way to drive ie. assuming road conditions/obstacles are going to be identical each time 😯

It's a difficult one this as some people who are potentially good drivers do stupid things purely because there is an examiner sitting next to them and they are trying too hard to do everything by the book instead of simply 'driving'.

Mudshark – have you been driven by your missus and if so did you feel safe? My job entails quite a bit of driving, often at speed and you develop a sense of what people are going to do. You can also spot a 'type' of driver with reasonable accuracy eg. doddery old bugger, pre-occupied mum with kids in car, boy racer and the worst category 'people who really shouldn't be behind the wheel at all'! Hopefully your wife doesn't fit any of those but after a lot of lessons and that number of fails I would start to question ability (as you are).

Maybe one of these 'intense' courses would be good to build confidence by driving a lot in a short period. Apart from anything else, it must be costing a fortune !

You don't get "second chances" in real life situations so you shouldn't get more than one attempt at your DT

Well the DSA say the current pass rate is around 43% for the practical test, so that would certainly cut down the number of cars on the road (or possibly just the number being driven legally).

That sounds like a very dangerous way to drive ie. assuming road conditions/obstacles are going to be identical each time

no, its not that she takes a corner she knows well at 60 ever time, she drives like everyone else arround Berkshire, but we were in the Peaks a couple of weeks ago and too the back roads to Sheffield from Ashbourne, even with good visibility round corners she was slow. Wheras I would have gone much faster.

Its more that she's not confident with the cars ability to cope with a given corner, whereas I drive anticipating the front to push wide on the entry and the back end to step out on the exit because I know thats what my car does. She's probably never been anywhere near the limit of her cars grip.

When you learn to drive things like clutch control and manouvering are things you need to think about so you can't process information as fast as your brain is busy.

Some people do seem to struggle with the mechanics of car control. Can't say that I took longer than a lesson or so to get used to the controls so the rest was learning the rules and where to observe etc. If someone struggles with the mechanics I can see it would be more difficult, I just personally don't see how anyone could find it that complex a task – surely after the first hour you're pretty in tune with what everything does?

I just personally don't see how anyone could find it that complex a task – surely after the first hour you're pretty in tune with what everything does

Hah. Different people live in different worlds, mate.

I find it hard to understand how anyone could be confused by algebra for example.. but I try.

Interestingly – my wife's from the US and is really an excellent driver. Great hazard perception and interpretation of what's going on on the road. However when she came over here she'd only ever driven autos and on those big straight roads. So she had never really listened to the engine of the car, and had a hard time working out when to change gear. I talked about engine speed, and she just didn't know what I was talking about. And after having got the hang of it, the last thing that was really difficult was working out what gear to be in approaching corners on country roads. I spent countless hours as a little kid sat there watching my parents drive, observing how they changed gears and asking them questions about what they were doing. I'd never have experienced it if they' been driving autos.

the last thing that was really difficult was working out what gear to be in approaching corners on country roads

A policeman friend of mine once advised me that if I had to drop below third when approaching a roundabout then I had "failed"

But he has crashed two cop cars so I tend to ignore him 🙂

A policeman friend of mine once advised me that if I had to drop below third when approaching a roundabout then I had "failed"

Mines only got 4 gears, and besides, in the dry you can't get the back end out in 3rd :p

Its more that she's not confident with the cars ability to cope with a given corner, whereas I drive anticipating the front to push wide on the entry and the back end to step out on the exit because I know thats what my car does.

I'm really struggling with that statement. Please tell me you (and your car) don't drive as that is written ? 😯

BTW on a public road you you shouldn't be driving "anywhere near the limit of the cars grip" !

>I'm really struggling with that statement. Please tell me you (and your car) don't drive as that is written ?

I seem to recall that TINAS is the same guy that posted on here that 'recumbents are dangerous'.
Well, obviously they are when they have to share the road with him :p

The record for one of my punters to pass their test was 10 times. They had been ready the first time I sent them for their test, but they just went to pieces on their test. The time they passed I went and sat in on the test and it calmed her nerves. Just tell her to drive like her instructor taught her too. Its amazing how many people dont do this.