Any tips?

OLP

I've got my test coming up on the 9th of Febuary in Raheny, this is my second test as I failed my last one (Also in Reheny) I'm just wondering does anyone have any good tips for what I failed on.

The main places I picked up mistakes where the 4 grade 2's in "Reaction to Hazards" and a grade 3 in "Progress - At traffic lights"

Any help appreciated.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

DriveSkill

Hi,

As previously mentioned the 'Reaction to Hazards' faults are hard to identify exactly without actually been there! The main thing to eliminate them is excellent observation, look as far ahead as possible, and most importantly react to what you see!! Once you see something ahead (Children playing, parked cars, speed ramps, bus at busstop, pedestrian crossings, oncoming traffic on narrow road etc) you must plan on how to deal with the hazard and then act on it. In most cases the minimum you need to do is first check your mirrors then ease off the accelerator or brake if necessary it may also require signalling, adjusting road position or stopping etc as needed.

If you got a grade 3 for 'Progress - Traffic Lights' then I would think more than just being a little slow in moving off - that would normally just be a grade 2 (blue) mark.

I dont know the Raheny route but I recommend you carefully look at the setup of the traffic lights in the area paying particular attention to filter arrows. A possible scenario where you may have picked up the grade 3 would be where you were waiting to turn right, there was a solid green light and you still waited for a green arrow - that is a potential grade 3.

Basic rules for traffic lights :

Red : STOP !!!!
Amber : STOP !!! - unless its unsafe to do so.
Solid Green : Proceed in any direction provided it is safe to do so (i.e. if turning right you still have to yield to oncoming traffic!)
Green Arrow : Proceed in the direction of the arrow (you will usually have right of way in this scenario but take good observation!)
Amber Flashing Arrow : Proceed but yield to traffic on the right - usually only occurs for turn left arrows.

You can obviously have combinations of solid green and green arrows or combinations of green arrows etc. Important to remember that the solid green overrides the green arrow so if the solid green is on you dont have to wait for the green arrow and you should take up normal position in the center of the junction if you are waiting to turn right.

Go drive the area and take careful note of the traffic lights and/or get local instructor to take you around concentrating on traffic lights.


Best of luck in the test.

Regards,
Declan.

brian076

Previous 2 replies probably cover most things, however as an ex tester I will just mention 2 areas to watch out for. A lot of people pick up faults for "Reaction to Hazard" by driving up behind parked cars ie not moving out in time.
The traffic light fault occurred when you allowed a green light change to red. This generally happens when someone is turning right, and either they don't move forward when the light changes to green ie they don't take possession of the junction, or they wait for a filter arrow when there is adequate time to turn on a solid green light. If it is safe to turn and there is a solid green light, there is no need to wait for the filter.
My final bit of advice is take some pre-tests