driving test coming up

murfilein

not for me, but for my wife

we are close to cork city, so the test center is wilton in cork city.

any tips for the area?

my wife is a good driver, but one thing i dont understand: her teacher told her she should NOT simply pull the handbrake - she is supposed to press the button on the handbrake first, then pull it up, then release the button.

what the hell is going on here? thats stupid at best, dangerous at worst. why do they teach that here? just yesterday my wife parked our car (an old 03 micra) in front of our house, on a slight decline, and when the release the button, the hand went down a bit, leading to the car rolling. the entire point of the toothed handbrake is to be able to pull it up one way, without the chance of it going down because you are pushing the button. bloody hell. is that a universal rule or was it just the teacher?

J_R

Hi,

If you do it correctly it will not drop back down.

Grip the handbrake, press the button, pull up but before you reach the end of its travel release the button.

You should hear a click or two.

User1998

I was thought to press the button in while pulling the handbrake to prevent wear. The clicking noise you hear when pulling it without pressing the button is the metal rubbing against all the teeth and wearing them out unnecessarily.

I don’t see why you think it’s stupid or dangerous tho, you simply press the button in while pulling the handbrake and release the button when it’s pulled to the top. Its not that hard. Its not like the handbrake disengages with the button pressed in.

JoyPad

My son has completed the Essential Driver Training, and has received the same instruction.

However, I think you must keep applying the footbrake until the handbrake is engaged, to prevent any rolling.

hoodie6029

+1 to the above. Foot on foot brake until the handbrake is engaged.

The handbrake is for holding an already stationary vehicle in place not stopping a moving vehicle. Button held in to prevent wear in the mechanism.

Hotblack Desiato

Every single British TV show with somebody parking a car will have that clicking noise dubbed in though!

Pulling the handbrake up without pressing the button causes needless wear on the ratchet mechanism, it won't roll unless the driver is incompetent. If parking on an incline it's best to leave the car in gear as well.

Leatra

There are some intricate roundabouts on the Wilton test routes with plenty of morons driving on them. Make sure she takes the time to learn what lanes she needs to be in depending on what direction she's going. There are a couple of places where you have two lanes exiting at the same time, and testers will want her to be in the correct lane of the two for her end destination, i.e. not have to change lanes once out of the roundabout, so, for example, use the left-hand lane exiting the Wilton Roundabout toward the Sarsfield Road Roundabout when heading back to the test centre. It's a hassle but definitely best practice.

TheChizler

There's a stop sign coming out of the test centre, classic immediate fail. Don't miss it.