Irish driving test system a scam?

Smagyo

Today I took my second driving test and failed by one grade 2 (after failing the first one by two grade 2's). The first time I was taking my test, I was messed around with. I was texted the morning of the test, about two hours before it saying that my test had been postponed due to the tester being sick. After already taking the day off work I was obviously annoyed. They postponed my test for another two weeks. After failing me mainly for observation, I was lead to believe that I wasn't observant enough. The day I failed, I immediately booked my test again and went on the cancellation list. My friend, who failed his test one week after mine, booked his test the day he failed also. He received a date for two weeks after within 10 days. I thought that I would have been offered a date before him considering that I was on the waiting list a week before him? I emailed the RSA expressing my concerns and they said that they would try and get me a date. Many weeks after, I emailed again asking if my booking had been lost in the system. I was now waiting 8 weeks to get a date. They replied and gave me a date which was two weeks away, today, the 22nd september. I failed my test today by one grade 2. I was extremely careful to be extra observant, exaggerating my head movements etc. When I returned back to the centre I was questioning the tester on some of the marks that I had. Most marks were again for observation to do with mirrors, which I over exaggerated completely. I questioned my tester on one mark specifically which was for clutch control. He said that at one point I took too long to release my foot off the clutch. I asked him when and where this occurred during the test. He unfortunately "wasn't able to remember". I think that the system is corrupt, and the testers are looking for reasons to fail people to keep their pass/fail percentages at the same levels. I also don't think it's any coincidence that I am a 17 year old male. Now I am going to have to pay another 85 euro and wait for more time before I can drive. I have already spent hundreds on pretests because of the fact that they moved my test before. Bulls*** if you ask me....

The Young Wan

Haven't you already posted about this in the "Unsuccessful" thread?

punisher5112

Op break up into paragraphs can't read that at all

toptom

Look you failed it simple as, The instructors know their stuff young man they wouldnt fail you for nothing maybe a bit of maturity wouldnt go astray on your behalf.

Donutz

It must be tough failing by such little margins but I don't believe that testers would have to have a certain quota of fails.
If I were you I would take a few lessons off a different instructor before your next test.
My wife failed her test 4 times before changing instructors and passing her next test.

billy767

Take a course of lessons instead of pre-tests then you might actually learn to drive correctly rather than trying to pass the test by exaggerating things. Why would you exaggerate your head movements as you said in your post?

You've done the test twice and failed both times so you think there is conspiracy against you?

But wait, perhaps the two professional testers, with years of experience on their side actually know what they are doing.

You've failed twice for the same reasons. My money is on the testers.

TheChizler

Occam's Razor would point towards you making a mistake on your test rather than there being a big conspiracy unfortunately. Try a different instructor, some of them shouldn't be teaching.

SixSixSix

There is another thread on similar lines "Just failed test for 4th time..Genuinely cant take it anymore".
Maybe relax and stop exaggerating the head movements - just learn how to observe properly! Good luck!

mansoff

Get lessons from a good instructor. I did mine when I was 21 and I passed first time and I'm a male so I don't think it is fixed. But I had just started driving and got 10 lessons so did not have time to pick up bad habits.

Be extra slow than risky, I made 7 mistakes because I was too careful but I passed as I did not make any direct failure mistakes.

PixelTrawler

dont go slow! You will fail on progress. Try and drive as normal as possible.

Raging_Ninja

My instructor said that of the hundreds of students he had, only one had ever failed for going too fast, but dozens had failed for going too slow.

If it's a 50kph road, get to 4th as fast as you safely can.

Parchie17

Glad to say i have the full driving licence
But yeah,driving test is a scam,same as everything in this little dump we call ireland,,,,why is it the testers cant go into it in detail at the end of the test,?,why did the price of the test go from 40 euro to 85?,,why did they then enforce 12 lessons before a test,,?why did nct price go from, 25 euro to 55?..why do they keep punishing anyone with an older car with rip off tax and insurance and trying to encourage people to splash out on new cars?,,why is car insurance premiums constantly rising?..why did aviva and allianz stop covering cars over 15 years when they get nct'd anually and no evidence that they are a cause of many accidents(0.2 per cent of accidents is down to mechanical fault with the car)
Why??????? Ask yourself that

Alanstrainor

Parchie17 wrote: »

Glad to say i have the full driving licence  
But yeah,driving test is a scam,same as everything in this little dump we call ireland,,,,why is it the testers cant go into it in detail at the end of the test,?,why did the price of the test go from 40 euro to 85?,,why did they then enforce 12 lessons before a test,,?why did nct price go from, 25 euro to 55?..why do they keep punishing anyone with an older car with rip off tax and insurance and trying to encourage people to splash out on new cars?,,why is car insurance premiums constantly rising?..why did aviva and allianz stop covering cars over 15 years when they get nct'd anually and no evidence that they are a cause of many accidents(0.2 per cent of accidents is down to mechanical fault with the car)
Why??????? Ask yourself that

As far as i understand it, the tester will try to not go into detail with you to prevent arguing with stressed/angry people after failing. Typically they will tell you to work on something specific such as observation. Your fail sheet obviously will give a good idea as to where the errors lie.
As for the price increases, it is my understanding that the price jumped from €38 to 75 in 2009 after not changing for 17 years. It seems reasonable to me that the cost of operating had increased substantially in that time.
And 12 lessons is hardly a lot now is it? You're learning a challenging skill which most will use for the rest of their lives, setting aside a minimum of 12 hours, and guidelines for what should be covered is a great idea.
As for insurance etc, yes its a complete pain and it largely comes down to lack of regulation in the market. The government is happy to see people purchasing, and insurance companies must stand to benefit. I drive a 16 year old car so i feel the pain here!
But all in all its not a bad little country we've got, you'll find similar problems in most western nations.

Parchie17

Ok ,,,you have made some good points,,,,but seriously man ,,it isn't hard to see whats going on,,its amazing how these things came into play soon enough into the recession,'when people didnt have money to be splashing out on driving lessons,test fees and newer cars'...they more or less forced people to anyway,,,unless you wanna get on your bicycle,,,ireland has the potential to be a great little country in some ways, ,''its the guys at the top running things that make it nearly unbearable to live in''

Victor

Driving a vehicle has immense responsibilities and driving licences hasn't be issued lightly. You need to demonstrate competence.

Smagyo wrote: »

the testers are looking for reasons to fail people to keep their pass/fail percentages at the same levels.

If this were true, why is there variation between different test centres?

I also don't think it's any coincidence that I am a 17 year old male.

I think you need to challenge your thinking on this. Perhaps as someone with limited road training / experience, you might be having difficulty passing?