Failed driving test questions

LowEndTorque

LowEndTorque

LowEndTorque

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Cheshire
A friend of mine was failed in their Driving Test yesterday for a serious fault for Judgement Crossing. The scenario was, my friend was on a Give Way waiting to turn right. Another car comes from their left to turn right (the street the exam car is on). The oncoming car stood behind and waited for a long time to turn in despite having the opportunity to do so safely. My friend decided to begin and complete his right turn safely. Please do note the other car did not flash their lights for my friend.

The examiner failed them for the above stating they should have waited longer as the other car turning in had right of way.
Edit: The above also happened towards the end of the test which hurts even more.

IMO I felt this was a bit harsh considering the rest of the test was flawless. My concern now is, if the other car kept waiting showing no signs of moving and you have traffic building up behind you getting impatient, would you still be failed for undue hesitation?
 
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LowEndTorque said:
Bumping up an older thread as I couldn't find any relevant one.

A friend of mine was failed in their Driving Test yesterday for a serious fault for Judgement Crossing. The scenario was, my friend was on a Give Way waiting to turn right. Another car comes from their left to turn right (the street the exam car is on). The oncoming car stood behind and waited for a long time to turn in despite having the opportunity to do so safely. My friend decided to begin and complete his right turn safely. Please do note the other car did not flash their lights for my friend.

The examiner failed them for the above stating they should have waited longer as the other car turning in had right of way.
Edit: The above also happened towards the end of the test which hurts even more.

IMO I felt this was a bit harsh considering the rest of the test was flawless. My concern now is, if the other car kept waiting showing no signs of moving and you have traffic building up behind you getting impatient, would you still be failed for undue hesitation?
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I am enjoying the username + thread title combo where *checks notes* your 'friend' also failed an exam.
 
mrk said:
You were at a give way, it's not about being harsh or anything. give way is give way :p
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No, I am not questioning the result. My question is would someone get done for not doing what my friend did especially if the car turning in had not moved for a while or had flashed them to go/merge? These scenarios happen in normal everyday driving where you are waiting to merge in and someone flashes you to go and you do.
 
LowEndTorque said:
No, I am not questioning the result. My question is would someone get done for not doing what my friend did especially if the car turning in had not moved for a while or had flashed them to go/merge? These scenarios happen in normal everyday driving where you are waiting to merge in and someone flashes you to go and you do.
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Never assume anything, use your own judgement. Flashing your headlights is only meant to be done to indicate to other road users that you are there. You're not meant to rely on it as a form of communiqué in any other way, despite what people do outside of learning and the test.
In learning/test environment, you should essentially ignore cars flashing you.
 
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mrk said:
You were at a give way, it's not about being harsh or anything. give way is give way :p
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I would take issue with that to be honest - if the situation was as posted, then they did give way. It's just that the the other car then yielded their priority.

Essentially that's a lose-lose situation for the person being tested; if they go, they've (apparently) ignored the "Give Way", if they don't, they're unnecessarily obstructing traffic, either way it's game over.

Ashley Neal posted a video recently - different situation, but the message is the same - by changing the rules of the road, you cause confusion for everyone; it's all very well trying to be nice, but it's almost always better/safer to be predictable.
 
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Haggisman said:
Essentially that's a lose-lose situation for the person being tested; if they go, they've (apparently) ignored the "Give Way", if they don't, they're unnecessarily obstructing traffic, either way it's game over.
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I disagree. The other car is the obstruction in this scenario, regardless. The only way to avoid that obstruction is to essentially break the rules of the road or wait. You 100% do the latter in a test.
 
many people gesticulate too, telling you to pull out at a junction and take right of way , less ambiguous than flash;
especially if you had a dashcam I think that would exonerate you.

...

on the topic of re-taking driving test - let's have an additional qualification for large SUV's -
people pass original test in something small and then ineptly drive something larger
 
Haggisman said:
I would take issue with that to be honest - if the situation was as posted, then they did give way. It's just that the the other car then yielded their priority.

Essentially that's a lose-lose situation for the person being tested; if they go, they've (apparently) ignored the "Give Way", if they don't, they're unnecessarily obstructing traffic, either way it's game over.

Ashley Neal posted a video recently - different situation, but the message is the same - by changing the rules of the road, you cause confusion for everyone; it's all very well trying to be nice, but it's almost always better/safer to be predictable.
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Yeah completely agree. If another driver is dithering or not moving, and you're sat there waiting, someone has to move. Nothing wrong with being the one to take the initiative and the examiner should give credit to the driver for controlling the road/scenario. Better to be in control yourself than to relinquish control to others.
 
Haggisman said:
For how long? What if the other car has broken down?
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What if the other driver is busying reading their latest Facebook posts and suddenly wakes up just as the learner had pulled across them so suddenly starts moving. Bit of whatifery involved but not completely out of the realms of possibility seeing how many people seem to have really interesting laps while driving these days.
 
tom_e said:
What if the other driver is busying reading their latest Facebook posts and suddenly wakes up just as the learner had pulled across them so suddenly starts moving. Bit of whatifery involved but not completely out of the realms of possibility seeing how many people seem to have really interesting laps while driving these days.
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Yes, very true - as I said, it puts the learner in a very difficult position, where it's basically a roll of the dice as to which way the instructor is leaning at the time.
 
Thank you for the replies so far guys. Yes, I always check my surroundings before moving even if the other road user has flashed their lights or signaled for me to move.
And again, I am not the one that has failed. I have passed my driving test about 6 years ago and have a DAS license for over a year now. ;)

The only safe scenario (to pass the test and checking your surroundings) during the test is, if the examiner tells the candidate that it is ok to move since the other car has not moved for a while. In my head it is one of those scenarios where my friend was unlucky to be in that situation. In hindsight, it would have been fine had the other car safely proceeded as normal.
 
The test isn't about the common sense practicalities of driving in the real world, its about strictly adhering to the rules of the road and despite any interpretation people want to put on it, the examiners seem to be consistent in strictly enforcing rights of way.

As for would I pass a re-test? I think I'd bimble through with a few minors, only because I did work with my daughters instructor in taking her out between lessons in her own car to get more confidence/experience so I was refreshed in the Highway code and also had the dos/dont's from the instructor to make sure she was following the current guidance as closely as possible (with the exception of teaching her to anticipate traffic and doing 1 down change when coming to a stop to be better prepared/less rushed if traffic started moving, her instructor was a bit ambivolent to that, but it made her better and he just laughed and said it was 'advanced' techniques that might confuse some learners..)...
 
If someone is holding the door for me to take a right turn onto a main road I'm going to take it. Obviously there's some judgement about whether the driver is in fact stalling for my benefit or about to wake up and mash the gas.

A whole load of **** happens which isn't exactly as it should be.

BUT on a basic test with the examiner breathing in your ear you're not allowed to be creative or flexible or just over 30 indicated because you reckon indicated isn't the real speed.

So I'd probably fail that scenario too but whatever, pay again go again, not like you're locked out or get a black mark on a permanent record.
 
I hate nothing more than polite drivers being polite in unnecessary situations.

In that situation, if it was a busy road and they could hold up other traffic to let me out, then I'd take it.

If there was nothing behind them I'd rather they just made their turn.
 
bloodiedathame said:
I hate nothing more than polite drivers being polite in unnecessary situations.

In that situation, if it was a busy road and they could hold up other traffic to let me out, then I'd take it.

If there was nothing behind them I'd rather they just made their turn.
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Don't be nice, be predictable.

I hate it when people cede their place at a roundabout, get a flipping move on, it causes a wave of confusion. If there is nobody behind you, don't stop to let people out/in etc, let them sort it themselves
 
d_brennen said:
Don't be nice, be predictable.

I hate it when people cede their place at a roundabout, get a flipping move on, it causes a wave of confusion. If there is nobody behind you, don't stop to let people out/in etc, let them sort it themselves
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This is a real bug bear of mine when I'm on my motorbike, don't dive into the gutter to let me pass, don't slow down to let me pass, other than avoiding driving in to me basically pretend I'm not there. If I choose to pass I'll pass because I'm happy it's safe not because someone else has decided I can.
 
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