I passed my driving test (almost!)

If your a young male driver then there is higher chance of failure. Next them show some leg, might work

Hard Luck but don't worry about It..Next time don't let the examiner see you are nervous . On your turnaround did you look back over your right shoulder before starting the manouver? Your were unlucky but just failed . These are minor faults and Four less and you would have passed.


Did you do any Pre test?

Better luck next time .

Time to play Devil's advocate here. As a matter of curiosity, how long have you been driving? Do you do much driving?

While I do think that sometimes a person can be failed unfairly, the vast vast majority of people were failed fairly, and their ego is hurt too much to admit it, or the fact that they don't know what they did wrong is why they failed!

Urban Weigl wrote:

2. POSITION
On bends: I have no trouble with bends, and it is a mystery why this was checked.

Did you allow yourself to swing in or out? While in reality it can sometimes make sense to change road position before a bend to improve visibility, for the purposes of the test you stay in the same place - driver in the middle of the road (i.e. car just left of centre) for normally wide roads, or slightly more left than right for narrow roads.

3. OBSERVATION
Moving off: I followed the correct procedures at all times. If anything, I overdid it, to make sure the tester was able to see.

Overtaking: I safely overtook a school bus that parked in front of me, on a wide road with white striped lines, with excellent visibility. That is the only reason I can think of.

99.999% of the time, when someone is marked down for observation on the overtake or moving off, you have neglected to do the system.
For overtaking - Rear view mirror, (indicate), right-hand mirror, (alternate between RH mirror, RV mirror and looking forward until your way forward is clear), left-hand mirror, right-hand mirror, look over your shoulder, go. Between each looking behind, you include a glance forward around the vehicle you're overtaking to make sure nothing has crept up in those few seconds, and in case any hazards (pedestrians, junctions) present themselves.
For moving off - Rear view mirror, (indicate), right-hand mirror, (pause until you have a clear go), look over your shoulder, go.
If you miss any of this, the looking over the shoulder one is what most people forget, then you're likely to be marked down. It's not simple.

4. REACT TO HAZARDS
Reaction: I did not miss any hazards, and reacted quickly and appropriately. I even specifically looked in the direction of hazards in addition to my reaction, to make sure the tester was able to see that I was aware of them.

Are you sure? If you didn't see a hazard that the tester did, then he'll mark you down. If you didn't see something then of course you'll say you saw everything (Just presenting an alternative viewpoint).

7. SIGNALS
Turning Left: I did not do this hand signal 100% correctly; I did it with my left hand instead of my right, but otherwise the signal was correct and (more importantly) correctly visible from the outside.

Indicating using your left hand inside the vehicle is not visible. The point of using your right arm to indicate left is so that all traffic can see your limb sticking out of the window - i.e. traffic in front, behind, from the right, from 45 degrees. The signal was wrong, there's no point in trying to sugar-coat it.

12. VEHICLE CONTROLS
Handbrake: I started up a hill with the help of the hand-break, which went smoothly (it literally could not have gone better). I released the handbreak correctly, and did not roll backwards, nor did the car jump or try to accelerate against the handbreak, or anything else for that matter. He could not have given me a point here unless you are not permitted to use the handbreak to assist moving up a slope (if that's not allowed, that is news to me).

I don't understand what you're saying here, by "assist moving up a slope". The handbrake should only be used when the vehicle is at a complete stop. So you drive up the hill, slow down, stop. Shift into first gear, pull the handbrake, put the vehicle into neutral, release the foot brake (gently). Then put it back into first gear, begin "accelerating" until you feel the bite (the rear of the car drops slightly), then release the handbrake swiftly and smoothly and accelerate away smoothly.
Is this what you did?

Steering: When asked, the tester was not able to give a satisfactory answer to this question. At no point did I make any steering "mistakes".

What anwer did he give you?

13. SPEED
Traffic conditions: I always took extreme care to watch out for traffic conditions, slowing down whenever I was unsure where someone else might make an unexpected turn, etc (for example going into roundabouts, junctions, and so on)

As others say, you may have appeared underconfident. while it's generally agreed that overconfidence will fail you in a second, overcautiousness will make you appear inexperienced and underconfident. Even if you're unsure about what someone will do, pretend you do know by keeping your distance, and dealing with it smoothly when they do make their manouver.

17. TURNABOUT
Competently: I was able to complete this within 3 points, even though this is no longer required! Perhaps I was supposed to get it done in just 2?
Observation: I took extreme care here, and made it very obvious that I was looking in all directions, and aware of all other road users and rules.

Perhaps a matter of incorrect use of the handbrake? There's no requirment to get it in any amount of goes, but the more points in the turn, the more times you have to do anything correctly. God, my 3-pointers a bit rusty (bikes don't have to do them see ), but iirc;
Pull up to where he asks. Put into first. Pull handbrake. Put into neutral. Release foot brake. Begin procedure for moving out, but add in a lot of extra looking around for other traffic which may come upon you (Tallaght's great for this, very wide open). When you're ready to go, release the handbrake and make your first turn. Stop gently. Pull the handbrake. Put in to neutral. Release the foot brake. Put into reverse. Your indicator may have turned off, but it's not necessary for the moving backwards part of this. (Remember to keep looking all around you, **** the mirrors). Same for reverse, then stop. Handbrake. Neutral. Release foot. Look around. Indicate. 1st Gear. Go when ready. Etc.

Again, the only mistake that I did make was that when making the left hand signal (from inside the car to a pointsman), I used my left arm instead of my right, though my hand was correctly visible from the outside.

Again, the only mistake you made as far as you were aware. Perhaps that's the reason you've failed.

I'm not trying to be horrible here or make you feel worse. I'm a driving test failure veteran at this point (although I've only failed twice, on different vehicles, long waiting lists mean I've had a *lot* of time to think about it ). Maybe you did fail because the tester had it in for you. Maybe he didn't, maybe you actually failed. Either way, assume that you failed because you weren't up to the task, and work on improving your driving and passing the next time. There's no opportunity in it to improve your skills and your character if you don't accept responsibility (even if it's not your fault).

I did the driving test twice, both times in 1999. I am still puzzled by why I failed the first time. I can remember making a mistake the second time all right, but not the first time when I was failed! I didn't need or take lessons in between the two attempts.
I am quite sure that it was down to the test being administered by two different people, the second one perhaps a little more sympathetic than the first.

edit* Both times I applied for the test I wrote a letter to accompany the application form, explaining that I was planning to emigrate to the States (one of the times that was true) and needed a license ASAP. On both occasions I got an appointment within weeks - the waiting lists were impressive back then too. Even if you don't make up an excuse, just write a letter mentioning that you will accept any cancelled appointment and can attend upon short notice - you will get seen a lot sooner.

As others have said, it's a confidence thing. I confidently drove through a red light on my test and still passed. Once you show that you have a good level of overall confidence and ability in your driving, I'm convinced that the indvidual points don't matter that much.

No, I never mentioned anything to the driving instructor about needing my license, only mentioned it (both times) on the letter accompanying the application form - I very much doubt the instructors get to see this! To the instructors I was just other young applicant...

Sleepy wrote:

Driving through a red light is one of the few things that is supposed to be an automatic fail. Your tester musn't have been the brightest.

Yeah, it happened early in the test, I presumed I had failed so just relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the drive without a worry. I guess he didn't see the red light, must have been looking at his notes or something.

When I was working in the motor tax/driving liscence department one summer I heeard quite a few stories about the driving test place. You should never book your test for a Friday, cos they're only allowed pass a certain number of people per week, and chances are they'll have given most of them out by then.

There was a case where this woman went in on a Friday - she got asked some questions on rules of the road and got them right. When her tester guy went to the toilet she had a look at his sheet to see what she would be asked next, and discovered that he had her already down as failed, even though she hadn't even gone out in the car with him. She took the department to court and got her driving licence in the end. The guys excuse had been that they had reached their limit for passes that week, and so he had to pre fail the woman!

Try here.