failed again!

daggeredge

Ok just did my driving test recently and failed it ... a second time
thing about it is that I failed it on one point...i.e not looking out my rear window long enough while reversing round the corner...apparently using my mirrors "too much" I always use my mirrors around corners but i made sure i gave a full look to the rear before i took off and again coming up to the actual corner...

I was told by the tester (with a smug kinda half smile by the tester)...(really it looked like she was enjoying it!!??) that if I'd had given a look behind me before i came to the corner and not used my mirrors as much that I'd have passed on a/c that I only got 4 medium faults
:mad:
(It's not like i hadn't looked @ all, I did check while moving backwards and I was using mirrors ...could see everything)

The tester was on their own in the center, my test was the last test of the day, so to my mind the tester had the 'quota' worked out, also that corner was the last thing I did so IMO it was the testers' last opportunity to fail me , the fact I'm nearly 20 and male probably didn't help either. the tester "hovered" between the pass and fail book before they pulled out the fail slip (I later read on the back of the results sheet that a major fault doesn't automatically mean you've failed)

I roughly calculated that I've pumped €600 into lessons, tests & whatnot since i started driving and between the two tests I've also waited about 17 months....It annoys me an awful lot ...best thing i can do is apply for a cancellation

I'd like to do the test in a different center (one that has a six week shorter waiting list) but I know the routes in this center very well...I really don't have many options.
I just think that owing to the fact of the size of the waiting list and the cost of these tests that IF I was failed on the basis of quota and not on actual ability then the system is f***ed. Also my provisional is out so I've to get a 2nd one....(talk about rubbing salt)

This happen to neone else?similar experiences

gerkiely

It's not illegal to reverse around a corner. What kind of car do you drive?

daggeredge

I was told that it was, in retrospect prob. isn't. will edit 1st post accordingly
my car: go kart with a roof............1 litre 97 nissan micra!

seamus

It's illegal to reverse from a minor road onto a major road. That's probably where you got it from.

Sometimes testers will nitpick. I can't remember exactly what I did in my test, but I know I never looked out the back window. It was pretty much a situation of, Look all around, move 5 feet, slow right down, look all around again, move another 5 feet. Done smoothly enough, it should get you around the corner quick enough.

muffinhead

Originally posted by daggeredge
This happen to neone else?similar experiences

it sounds like my story!

For me, I was driving well in the lessons leading up to my 2nd test (according to my instructor) and he said I was almost guaranteed a pass.

on the day i wasn't nervous but the only problem was that my tester turned out to be the strict one who is known for being tough on lads under 25.

anyway I failed, but on my final score sheet I had no X's in the mirrors, reversing corners, hill start and most of the common failure boxes.

the boxes with X's were the ones that suggested he thought I was driving too carefully (even though I maintained good speeds, reaction times, etc), which p*sses me off because on my first test I was driving too confidently which led to some stupid mistakes

my next test is due in Feb 2005, but i'm considering going to the UK, staying with relatives and doing the test over there; there's only a 4 week wait in some areas!

seamus

Originally posted by muffinhead
on the day i wasn't nervous but the only problem was that my tester turned out to be the strict one who is known for being tough on lads under 25.

Oldish guy, glasses, big nose, light hair? Failed me twice (on different vehicles) for being too careful....

Seth Brundle

I failed my 1st test in 1995 because the old git beside me [who incidentally did his best to block my left view by sitting forward] directed me up a narrow road in Finglas. I had to overtake a parked highace and he pulled the handbrake on me. When I stopped the car, I asked him why he did that and he told me that I was "too close to the parked vehicle". I was about 6" from the kerb on my side (I opened the door and checked!) but he was having none of it.
If that was now Id box the head off him, and then leave him by the side of the road!

unkel

Originally posted by kbannon
he told me that I was "too close to the parked vehicle". I was about 6" from the kerb on my side

That's awful! I was taught to leave 5' of space when overtaking anything (cars / cyclists, etc.) but if you don't have the space, you obviously can't :rolleyes:

muffinhead

Originally posted by seamus
Oldish guy, glasses, big nose, light hair?

that's him - the w*nker!

and to think the guards are telling us to be more careful on the roads, but when we're careful in our test we are failed for it! am i getting mixed messages?