Inconsistant Testers

brian076

I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but since all the talk about An Bord Snip and privatising Driving Testing, there've been a number of strange and inconsistant markings by testers recently.
Yesterday, a pupil got 4 Grade 2's for gears. She was told it was for "not changing down through the gears when approaching traffic lights"
In the same test centre recently, not sure if it was the same tester, another instructor had a pupil who got 4 Grade 2's for "not signalling when overtaking parked cars"
Again in the same test centre 2 weeks ago, a foreign gentleman was in the waiting room with his instructor and they were chatting away before his test.
He was called in by the tester, but 5 minutes he came back as the tester told him he couldn't take him out as his English wasn't good enough!
From what I could make out his English was perfect.
Just wondering if anyone else has had any unusual experiences recently.

PCPhoto

brian076 wrote: »

I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but since all the talk about An Bord Snip and privatising Driving Testing, there've been a number of strange and inconsistant markings by testers recently.
Yesterday, a pupil got 4 Grade 2's for gears. She was told it was for "not changing down through the gears when approaching traffic lights"
In the same test centre recently, not sure if it was the same tester, another instructor had a pupil who got 4 Grade 2's for "not signalling when overtaking parked cars"
Again in the same test centre 2 weeks ago, a foreign gentleman was in the waiting room with his instructor and they were chatting away before his test.
He was called in by the tester, but 5 minutes he came back as the tester told him he couldn't take him out as his English wasn't good enough!
From what I could make out his English was perfect.
Just wondering if anyone else has had any unusual experiences recently.

Sounds like theres a hint of racism there - you dont need to know how to speak english in order to drive.... granted you may need to understand it when taking instruction for a driving test ...but thats no reason to refuse to take him out and give him his test.

Wishbone Ash

PCPhoto wrote: »

you dont need to know how to speak english in order to drive.....

It would help with the theory part of the test though! If one didn't speak English/Irish, it would be difficult to answer a direct question such as "When should you use dipped headlights?"

ztoical

PCPhoto wrote: »

Sounds like theres a hint of racism there - you dont need to know how to speak english in order to drive.... granted you may need to understand it when taking instruction for a driving test ...but thats no reason to refuse to take him out and give him his test.

You need to be able to understand english in order to understand instructions from the tester during the test. If you can't it can be deemed as dangerous thus the tester refusing to take him out. From listening to a conversation it might have appeared his english was perfect but the tester might have felt otherwise after questioning him. From what I've heard you are allowed ask for a translator to be present at the test center and in the back of the car but I may be wrong about that.

Also I would take with a pinch of salt anything someone told me regarding their test, what someone claims happened or was said and what actually happened can sometimes be different. I know alot of people I know who failed the test has turned around and said something about the tester being unfair, myself included, but after a couple of days see things a little clearer.

DriveSkill

I've heard similar stories from a few instructors - seems to be a lot of faults for 'Gears' coming up and I know of one case where a pupil failed and was told main reason was that they should be coming down through the gears when stopping - totally goes against all 'best practice' for driving.

I had a pupil fail on a straight grade 3 for observation on the reverse. Obviously its impossible to know exactly the situation but it seemed harsh to me given the way I had seen the pupil drive previously with no major issues on observation.

Until instructors are allowed accompany pupils on the test it is impossible to make an accurate assessment of whether the testers are consistent or marking hard or whether the pupils just falls apart on the day - btw I think its highly unlikely we will get instructors accompanying on the test any time soon!

RSA ADI MARK

hi driveskills and all adis has any been called for the check test yet

DriveSkill

RSA ADI MARK wrote: »

hi driveskills and all adis has any been called for the check test yet

Personally no but I have heard that they are starting them 'early' !!!

RSA ADI MARK

i did my one on tuesday and they are formal,so when it comes around do take a pupil with you ,

macplaxton

DriveSkill wrote: »

I've heard similar stories from a few instructors - seems to be a lot of faults for 'Gears' coming up and I know of one case where a pupil failed and was told main reason was that they should be coming down through the gears when stopping - totally goes against all 'best practice' for driving.

Indeed it does. Brakes to slow. Gears to go.

brian076 wrote: »

Yesterday, a pupil got 4 Grade 2's for gears. She was told it was for "not changing down through the gears when approaching traffic lights"
In the same test centre recently, not sure if it was the same tester, another instructor had a pupil who got 4 Grade 2's for "not signalling when overtaking parked cars"

Those decisions, based on those reasons are complete manure. If they want to fail folk, then at least do so with a correct reason. :mad:

Posy

DriveSkill wrote: »

Until instructors are allowed accompany pupils on the test it is impossible to make an accurate assessment of whether the testers are consistent or marking hard or whether the pupils just falls apart on the day - btw I think its highly unlikely we will get instructors accompanying on the test any time soon!

That's a good idea, at least you'd have someone impartial who could look back on the test and will have seen any mistakes you made and could work on them in future (if any) lessons.
I think there should be a system where a person could get tested by their ADI instructor, with an independent adjudicator type person also in the car. They could get given an envelope just before the test, giving the route they have to take and what questions to ask, so it couldn't be all pre-prepared!

RSA ADI MARK

hi posy ,sounds a good idea independent adjudicator but who would pay for them and who would they work for

driverite

brian076 wrote: »

there've been a number of strange and inconsistant markings by testers recently.
Yesterday, a pupil got 4 Grade 2's for gears. She was told it was for "not changing down through the gears when approaching traffic lights"
.

Dont know about you brian but when i was training to be a tester, we were told you dont have to go down gears,its not a fault...i.e you can stop in 4th.

When i did my test a long time ago you had to move down gears.

I had a pupil in wicklow who failed on gears not going into 4th.it was at school time 3pm and heavy traffic, he was lucky he got out of 2nd....very unfair

tennessee time

i thought it was expected of the driver to come down through the gears when approaching a stop or intersection , if you just use brakes wont you have to coast on the clutch for a while????

brian076

tennessee time wrote: »

i thought it was expected of the driver to come down through the gears when approaching a stop or intersection , if you just use brakes wont you have to coast on the clutch for a while????

No you just break gently to a stop, pressing the clutch down at the last moment before the car starts to shudder. In modern cars there's no need to change down through the gears.

Coasting only occurs if you press the clutch down too early or if you change down through the gears without coming off the clutch. It's very easy to do this if you don't stop in the gear you're in. A lot of people think they come down thru the gears, whereas very often they go from 4th to 3rd to 2nd without ever releasing the clutch. They might as well just put it in to neutral.

brian076

driverite wrote: »

Dont know about you brian but when i was training to be a tester, we were told you dont have to go down gears,its not a fault...i.e you can stop in 4th.

When i did my test a long time ago you had to move down gears.

I had a pupil in wicklow who failed on gears not going into 4th.it was at school time 3pm and heavy traffic, he was lucky he got out of 2nd....very unfair

Yes there's absolutely no need to come down thru the gears, that's why I'm at a loss to know why she received these marks.

I know another poster said that they don't always believe what pupils say after a test, and I agree you regularly get pupils blaming the tester rather than their own driving, but in this case I really expected this pupil to pass without a problem. I couldn't see how she would get more than 3 or 4 Grade 2's and wouldn't have been surprised if she got a clean sheet.