The Ultimate "I failed my driving test!" Thread

What are you supposed to do on a sliproad if you can't join?

The whole business with matching the speed of the other cars isn't as easy as it sounds. They're almost certainly going to be travelling at 60/70 mph so matching their speed isn't going to help you if you can't get out.

my Mum had reassured me "Everyone in our family has got it second time, most people do!"

The questions are basically the same but they added some more a couple of years ago, and then some "case studies".

I recommend Driving Test Success as the best study aid. It's dropped in price now because at the end of the year the theory test questions will no longer be available.

!

If the worst comes to the worst, then you have to stop and wait until you can join.

Matching speed (roughly, not exactly) means people will let you out more likely than not. They more than likely won't if you're crawling along.

It isn't easy if you can't do it, of course. People panic and stop, and that's why they end up being failed for it.

In all honesty, I think a lot of people expect to get lucky and pass their tests. The reality is that if you can actually drive you stand a much better chance.

In all the time I've been teaching I've only ever had three pupils who have taken more than 4 tests in total. The worst by far was a girl who'd taken 9 attempts by the time she passed (4 of them with me), and who was physically sick on test days. I must admit I had tears in my eyes the day we drove back and she had that pass certificate in her hand. She told me she'd resigned herself to being a learner forever.

But I get a lot of people who have had tests elsewhere, and I'm sometimes (not always, I must point out) amazed at how bad their driving is. Why the hell they ever went to test like that is beyond me. But a lot do, and that is often where the trouble lies.

Learning to drive isn't cheap. Trying to make it so really does make it harder to pass.

Oh!!! Thank you for this thread, it has made me feel slightly better about failing, knowing I'm not the only one.


The examiner I had on my first test was very nice but I ended up failing with 2 Majors and 8 Minors. Minors were just hesitation, one was clutch, etc. The first major was going down a one way street, at the end of the road he wanted me to turn right but I stayed in the left hand lane. I didn't know what I had done wrong until he pointed it out. I'd never been taken down a one way street by any of my instructors so felt a little disheartened by that one. I also didn't feel like it was a major as it wasn't dangerous in any way.

The second major was going down a long stretch of pretty open road, I didn't see there was a giveway junction coming up (no signs, just the white lines on the road), I slowed down pretty last minute after seeing the road markings and there was no cars coming so it was okay for me to go any way.

I didn't feel too bad that I'd failed, just got on and booked my next.

The second test was a lot worse than the first. I had the same examiner which made me feel 10x worse straight off! I drove fine for about 25 minutes until he took me to the biggest roundabout in my town and I HATE it, roundabous are my worst point anyway but this one is just horrible.

He wanted me to go right, 3rd exit so I was waiting to go and the car behind me starts beeping, non stop! I wouldn't mind but I had only been there about 30 seconds and this roundabout is hard to get out of! The beeping really put me off so when I saw my chance to go, I stalled.

That was my first major which I didn't think was fair, considering the beeping and I didn't panic when I stalled just calmly restarted the car. When we got off that roundabout, we approached another, one that you cannot see over or around, so purely have to have luck and be careful! I went to go, crawled out slowly and a car came round so I braked, there was no chance of any danger as I was only about 5cm over the line!

He told me to pull over then and to take 5 mins to cool down. Then it was time to do my manouver(sp?) and I got reverse around the corner. I did it all okay, I was a bit far from the kerb so I went to straighten it but he stopped me and told me to just drive onward. I was a bit at this.

Came out of a really quiet junction after that and stalled in the middle of it cus I was in third gear. I drove absolutely fine after that all the way back to the test center. Though he later told me he had stopped marking after the second stall.

I felt very intimidated by him, thought he was quite rude to me! The thing that made it worse after failing a second time was my Mum had reassured me "Everyone in our family has got it second time, most people do!" So I got home and first thing I said was "Everyone gets it second time but me!" and burst out crying!

I've given up on driving now because my confidence is through the floor. Just don't even want to get in a drivers seat and can't even see myself ever passing!

Sorry for the long post, it feels good to share !

EDIT: Just wondered, on the matching speed business - to do that you're going to be travelling at around 55-60+ mph on the sliproad. That seems like taking quite a large risk that the cars will let you in, because if they don't, very few cars are likely to be able to slow down in time so as to not end up jutting out into the dual carriageway (like I did) or on the hard shoulder.

Some merges will always be a little harder than others, of course. It's one reason tests are conducted on them - local "tricky" road features are always a bit of a problem.

Let me use roundabouts as an example for a moment. A lot of learners make the mistake of waiting for a gap instead of aiming for one. They wait until the gap arrives, then get ready, then... miss it because the next car has arrived. Part of the problem is that a large gap to a confident driver is a minute one for a nervous learner.

Likewise, people will sit at a junction - hesitating - when there is absolutely nothing coming (as far as I'm concerned), but they can see a car moving several hundred metres up the road. The question that the driver should be asking themselves is "can I go?" and not "is there something coming?" Obviously, this needs practice.

So back to your merge. In general, if you get to the point of the merge and there is nothing there at that moment in your mirrors up to the top of that hill, then you should carry on out. Even if something appear over the hill. It's more a question of "can I get out?" and not "is anything coming?".

Doing the correct/appropriate speed at that point is vital, because too slow will cause problems as everyone catches up with you. And because it is a dual carriageway, people are supposed to give way a little by changing lanes if they see people joining ahead of them - yes, some will deliberately block you, but that's only a worry when cars are much closer.

I know that if someone pulls out of a merge at the right speed, does it safely with space to do so, and then has someone tailgating them and flashing lights/sounding horns, that won't result in a test fail, even though the idiot behind is obviously not happy.

Ok my instructor hasn't taught me any of the car parts - my test is tomorrow. Am I meant to point them out? Or answer any questions? I'm a nervous wreck.

Managed to do all my manoeuvres perfectly in my lesson today- even my Driving Instructor said he was impressed.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the rest of my driving- on the way out I was fine, but on the way back to my house, I was too fast, couldn't concentrate and tired.

I mean I have a cold, but I've got to put up with that sort of stuff, so why did I suffer so badly today. Grrr!

Don't worry about it. Fatigue can do terrible things. I remember doing a night lesson at around 8pm, early in the year, and coming back home, I kept putting the car into 4th, instead of 2nd and leaving about 5cm clearance with other cars!