Some advice from an Examiner.
This Reddit is brilliant, on the whole, it gives some great advice from ADI and PDI to you lovely people who come for test.
First of all, I would like to clear some things up.
- You have passed until you commit a serious or dangerous fault. As simple as it sounds, an examiner does not fail you. They are an observer who sits alongside you on your test and assess you as you drive, if you do something that affects another road user, the examiner will assess that. It isn't like an instructor would do, they mark faults, an examiner assesses faults and their impact to others. If you fail, you have demonstrated something serious or dangerous to the examiner, you were driving, they weren't.
- There are no xxx faults on one driving fault and you fail. Looking at my 25 or DES ( the app I mark your drive on) there are so many things we look at throughout your drive. The biggest thing we see is Junctions-Observation, there are so many permutations of this it is hard to describe. From pulling out of a junction to where your view is obscured to plain stopping a vehicle from left or right, you have to be aware of how you are affecting vehicles around you this can go serious before a driving fault has been recorded. Go another level to use of mirrors - Signals, this can tot up to seven or more driving faults before going serious. I hope this explains this?
- As examiners, we don't have a quota of how many people we have to pass/fail. This is only down to you, as explained in 1) above, the examiner is there to assess you and what fault you demonstrate.
- Be test ready - Wow, this covers so much! Have L Plates fitted, make sure a central mirror is available for the examiner, do all four wheels have the correct amount of wheel nuts/studs fitted (seriously!), are your tyres legal and ARE ALL YOUR LIGHTS WORKING... New vehicles give tell tails about lights being out, if one or more warnings about lights are shown on your dashboard, you may not be eligible for test. On Tyres, are they above legal limit and free from cuts, cords, bulges and defects? On a recent test I had a candidate that their N/S/R tyre had started to split due to age. I was due to go on some roads with this candidate at National Speed Limit, did I feel safe? No. Their test was terminated at cost to them.
- Have your license ready prior to test. When your examiner greets you in the waiting room, make sure you have your license out and ready for inspection. Your signature must be like the one on your license - it is an identity check, not something you've recently decided upon.
I've included a screenshot from my iPad on what we mark on test. here are the top ten most common driving faults in the UK on test. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/top-10-reasons-for-failing-the-driving-test/top-10-reasons-for-failing-the-driving-test-in-great-britain
I really hope that this has helped you, if you are sitting the test with an ADI or PDI, if they say you need to put back your test, don't take this personally or as if they are trying to take more money from you. They have recognised that there is an area in your driving that needs improving before test.
If you are attending a test on your own without input from an ADI or PDI, please, make sure that the advice given is of a reliable standard and not gleaned from social media or friends.
All the best, stay safe and thanks for reading.
