Driving Theory Test

The first time pass-rate for theory tests is quite high.

 

I think its at the instructor's discretion whether or not to go ahead with the lesson. Sometimes conditions will just be too bad for unnecessary driving. They have to also consider that a learner is, by definition, not yet the most competent driver, so there is safety to consider. I expect its different now, but when I was a learner, even though most larger cars had ABS, and some were starting to get the newfangled electronic stability control, my learner car had none of that. It meant that if I was to panic and floor the brake, the car would have gone out of control and even with dual control (your instructor has a clutch and brake pedal), your instructor can't do anything to unjam the wheels if you jam on in panic (a natural but entirely wrong reaction to a skid). Yet still, there will be days when it is bad enough to practice bad weather driving with extreme care, but not so bad as to be excessively risky.

I probably got away with more than most because my instructor was a mentalist. On one lesson he deliberately found me a road that was just compacted ice. After a bit of extremely careful driving, we swapped over and he took the helm. He said 'watch what happens if panic and jam on'. Suffice to say I nearly needed fresh undies. Oh, and we sort of crashed a bit, which I don't think the instructor planned. Fortunately we were going quite slow when we belted the curb sideways.

 

Well done, Kayleigh

Good luck with your practical

 

Congratulations Kayleigh, fantastic....

I managed my Theory first time too but alas when I got round to my practical it wasn't to be, just 1 minor fault but 1 more serious one, only because I drifted out of lane on a roundabout by about 3 or 4 inches!!! The examiner said it was almost one of the best tests he'd given and I was a good driver, almost faultless but almost wasn't close enough unfortunately. I admit that after that it was such an emotional drain for a few days, the feeling of having let myself and family down, having come so close perhaps made it worse for me. Now funds simply won't allow at the moment to go through it again...

Good Luck and all the best with your lessons and eventual test Kayleigh..

 

Congratulations Kayleigh. Just another step to adulthood. (which is now forever)

I remember my first car I bought at 16 years old, my dad co-signed but I did the payments and the car insurance was under his name. It is certainly a major mark in a young persons life.

 

Congratulations.

And since everyone else is offering advice, I'm going to add my two penn'oth.

If you can, find somewhere that does skipan training. It isn't cheap (I paid about £130 for an hour's tuition for each of my daughters) but believe me, it is money very well spent and will also help you avoid getting into a skid in the first place.

The time to learn to control a skid is not when you're in one on a busy road.

 

I once hit black ice on a dual carriage way at about 60mph on a bend. Car ignored the bend and continued straight, as per the laws of physics. No grip at all.

I've also aquaplaned a few times, that's scary too.

You can't teach what to do in these situations using words, but the best I can say is to not do anything too suddenly. Ease gently off the throttle, don't bury the brake pedal, don't steer too hard, and above all, absolutely paramount, is don't panic.

 

I bet there's a lot more people here that although they had to do a test, it was the kind that my dad had to do, which from what he tells me, was pretty much about proving that you knew had to start the engine, drive round the block without crashing, and stop again a few minutes later

 

When I was in Eire I was horrified to find out
a; I was supposed to surrender my U.K. licence for an Irish one, no way Jose.
b; You can drive solo on a provisional one.
c; they had regular amnesties, if you had a provisional licence, for 5 years I think it was, they had such a backlog of people waiting for tests, they just changed it to a full licence.

There was as I left Eire 2003 such a furore because the E.U. had stepped in, and were forcing them to comply with other E.U. states. So no driving on provisional, and definitely no amnesties.