[jocky85]

Good luck!

[Yudster]

Good luck Jill.

[MK Chris]

Best decision I ever made as regards that was not telling a soul when my driving test was... took the pressure off. Bit late for that advice, but good luck anyway!

[foot-loose]

That was the best decision you have ever made? The best one EVER?


Good luck Jill!

[Yudster]

That was the best decision you have ever made? The best one EVER?

Best decision I ever made as regards that.......

Ner.

[Bonanzoid]

Good luck Jill.

I never really quite bought into the theory that telling folk would jinx it, not that superstitious. I told whoever asked and still managed to pass. Whoopcha.

[Yudster]

I think for most people it wouldn't so much be a superstition. The reason I didn't tell anyone wasn't because I thought it would jinx it, it was just because I really didn't need everyone going on about it and making me me even more nervous than I was anyway.. And if I failed, I didn't want to have everyone asking me how I got on.

[MK Chris]

My reasons were exactly the same as Yudster's.

[Zoot]

It's probably too late now, but ask to put the radio on. I did and it made the whole experience less intense and I wasn't as nervous. I had 4 tests and had the radio on on the last one.

[Jill]

Cheers for the good luck messages.

Unfortunately I failed. I failed on only one thing and that was because she said i was going a bit too fast for her comfort!! And i wasnt even speeding!!(which she admitted that i wasnt speeding) i've been asked to write a letter of complaint about her, as i did nothing wrong in the test. Apparently she fails alot of people for silly things and other people have complained but done nowt about it so my instructor said he'll help and we'll do a formal letter about her.

But yeh, gutted. Have rebooked tho for 7 weeks time.

[Bonanzoid]

Failed for speeding when you weren't even speeding?! What the buggery feck?! That sucks, I hope your letter of complaint works because it sounds like you've been royally funked over there.

[Yudster]

Speed is about more than observing speed limits though - you are supposed to observe appropriate speed aren't you? You could be doing under the speed limit but in certain conditions that might still be too fast. But it does sound like you got an examiner with a reputation, and that's probably significant. Hope the complaint gets results!

[Ed Pummelon]

Failed for speeding when you weren't even speeding?! What the buggery feck?! That sucks, I hope your letter of complaint works because it sounds like you've been royally funked over there.

Not necessarily, you match your speed to the conditions and hazards, not to the speed limit. At least, you should, many don't. We don't know enough about Jill's situation to judge whether it was fair or not.

Tough luck Jill, by the way. You'll get there sooner or later, hopefully sooner.

[Munki Bhoy]

Did you crash? No. In that case, since you broke no speed limits, your speed was fine for the conditions and her opinion is worth dick.

There's a lot I don't agree with when it comes to the driving tests in this country, but this takes the whole biscuit tin let alone the biscuit.

[Ed Pummelon]

Did you crash? No. In that case, since you broke no speed limits, your speed was fine for the conditions and her opinion is worth dick.

So as long as you don't crash you're driving safely? Come on, think about it.

[Yudster]

That has to be the daftest thing you've ever said Munki - although its a short list, I'll admit.

Charla is right though, all the best drivers pass second time.

[Jill]

Hey guys,

She said it was too fast for her comfort, it was 55ish on a bypass where the limit is 70mph. The conditions were ok, bit drizzly and there was hardly any traffic about. She said she wouldnt do that speed if she was driving. So, because she wouldnt do it thats why i shouldnt do it. Smarmy cow with smiles on her face as she tells me and the driving instructor her opinion. I would understand if i failed as a result of my rubbish driving but i feel i did nothing wrong so feel bit hard done by.
Ah well

Hope you're all having a good weekend

[Yudster]

Seems a bit silly when the test these days seems to insist that you demonstrate your understanding of speed limits by pretty much driving at them whenever you can. She sounds like she enjoys the power of being a driving test examiner just a little bit too much.

[Ed Pummelon]

I agree, that sounds like a daft call. Don't sweat it Jill, you'll get there.

[Munki Bhoy]

That has to be the daftest thing you've ever said Munki - although its a short list, I'll admit.

Charla is right though, all the best drivers pass second time.

Taken in isolation, it would be a pretty dumb statement. But when you consider this was a driving test and there was nothing else to fail on, I would say in this instance it's fairly safe to assume that there was no chance of not being in control of the car, being a threat to other road users or otherwise driving dangerously. The only thing I wasn't sure about was what kind of road it was - I mean, I wouldn't say doing 30 in a 30 is safe in certain circumstances (parked cars on a relatively tight road) but then I would have assumed such a thing would have been mentioned. The fact that Jill has now confirmed this road was a quiet bypass where the limit is 70 and she was doing 55 only confirms that this driving instructor is quite clearly at best incompetent and at worst a smarmy wank of a person.

I happen to agree on the stupidity of the rule about driving at speed limits that they seem to follow by the way. I got a minor on one of my tests for driving at 30 in a 40 when it was raining quite heavily. It was only a minor and it didn't really affect my final result - I failed my first test because some retarded women couldn't work out why a learner car had stopped next to some parked cars and was sitting with its reverse lights on. She sat behind me, the examiner instructed me to indicate, she continued to sit there, the examiner instructed me to drive on. Later on he told me I'd failed because I hadn't indicated and had to be prompted... like it had made any difference! I didn't argue it though since he was technically right, but it certainly annoyed me.

[Lactating Man Nips]

Bah! any slower and you would have been a hazard to anyone behind. (if just light dizzle with little traffic)

So what did your instructor say? After all, he must have instructed you on the 'approved' speed in those conditions.

Instructors, examiners, Knights Templars - all one big conspiracy. Bad luck.

[foot-loose]

The driving test is a * joke. No wonder kids keep crashing into things.

[MK Chris]

I hear lots of people say - though I'm not sure how true it is - about targets for successes and failures that the examiners have to roughly stick to.

[Yudster]

The driving test is a * joke. No wonder kids keep crashing into things.

Its been a while since I took mine, but if Foots says this is so, then I tend to believe him. I think he probably has a good perspective on such things, even if his sofa days are behind him now.

[foot-loose]

I've been through it all before on here, but how the hell can you give someone a license and tell them they "know how to drive" when they arn't even ALLOWED on a motorway till they have said license?! There's a stretch of road near me with a 60 limit. It goes from a 30 to a 60 then back to a 30 in about a mile. There is a junction, a blind hill and a sharp corner in the 60 limit and yet the kids are being told they should "try to get to 60"??

Kids should be taken to skid pans and made to experience what happens when a car skids. If you could get health and saftey to agree, i'd like them to be in a staged accident as well so they can see how quickly everything happens. The place I go up north, there is a stretch of country road where the kids are racing each other at night. There is a steep right hand corner that they race round and try to get to 125mph with two cars side by side. I tried to see how fast I could get round it last time I was up and I made it to 75mph before I chickened out, and I race cars properly!

Also, people should have to sit a driving refesher test every 5 or 10 years. If they fail, they don't get their license taken off them, but they need to pass it within 6 months or the license will be invalid.