A test pass de-brief to take note of.

One of my pupils had the practical test on Friday just gone, and the de-brief was quite unusual – thought I’d give a few details here for the benefit of others.

I saw the car come back into the Test Centre and the last thing done was the reverse bay park manoeuvre which was very good.  I then strolled back to the car, and as I approached my Learner got out the drivers seat with a big smile, thumb up sign, and got his driving licence from the back seat. When I got in the car, the examiner confirmed the pass and added a remark that at times the speed was too slow but that he gave a lifeline of something like:

“Isn’t it so annoying when drivers drive too slow for the conditions?”

My Learner apparently took the hint.  

Then the conversation went like this:

Examiner “And what was that all about with the Taxi driver shouting at you?”

Pupil “I know I thought I’d failed then to be honest”

Examiner “Why? What had you done wrong?”

Pupil “I don’t know, was my position wrong?”

Examiner “No your position was fine.”  He turned to me, and said “Basically what happened was we got to that ‘T’ junction over there at the very start, and as we approached quite slowly, which by the way I don’t blame you for at all, a Taxi driver was turning right into our road, I think he mis-interpreted the slowness of our vehicle as being a sign that we were going to pause before the give way lines.  As such he cut the corner on the right turn, but realised when he came across us, that we were not pausing at the give ways, and so he shouted out a few abusive remarks.  It was fine, I’ve recorded it as a driving fault, only because we have to take care how things can be interpreted and be able to adapt, but it was fine – it would have been harsh to give a 'serious' for that, I take the whole drive into account which I felt very comfortable with”.

A big well done to my Learner, to have that incident thrown at him at such an early stage in the Test, especially as he was concerned he had failed the Test as a result.

 

There are a couple of good lessons to learn from that incident:

When we drive around, we must be ‘alive’ and prepared to anticipate the poorest of driving around us.  So, people cutting across us, people doing dangerous overtakes, people leaving signals on or not putting one on, people being in the wrong lane on a r/b, people forcing themselves on us in meeting situations...... etc.  If we are mentally anticipating these things, then when it happens, it isn’t a surprise as we’ve already planned it in.

Don’t give up on a Test, no matter what happens, keep going, persevere.  I’ve only ever known people pass that I thought should have been a fail, I’ve never known anyone fail when I thought it should have been a pass.  So keep going no matter what crops up.

Ignore other road user’s abuse.  They are often in the wrong, and don’t even know it.  So shouting, hand signals, flashing headlights, using the horn, tailgating..... ignore it all.  Don’t respond, or retaliate no matter how you perceive the situation, it literally isn’t worth it.

Another comment I’ll make on that de-brief is the Examiner commended my Learner for talking to him.  They generally do like it, they are not mind readers, so knowing what a Learner is thinking or considering is good when you are driving to a good standard.  They do this job all day, so they will always appreciate interaction rather than stone cold silence.  Don’t get me wrong I’m not making this comment with the idea of this making a difference to a pass/fail, as it happens the Learner above passed with 3 minors (1 of which was the Taxi incident).  If you have been trained to a good standard, it comes out in the driving, no amount of chatter can substitute poor driving, but when you are making judgement calls, and observing how others affect you when driving, the Examiner cannot possibly read your mind.

Last thing to say.  Before the test, literally about 5 minutes before the test, I said to my Learner that generally speaking people can fall into a trap on test, some drive far too slowly in the hope that they are ‘hedging their bets’ and minimising risk, or, they will drive too fast, trying to impress perhaps, or possibly due to test nerves.  I said very clearly, we want neither of those, what we want is driving to the conditions in front of you.  I gave a couple of examples of differing situations that affect speed.  And despite that, it appears from the de-brief that my Learner was initially driving too slow.  This is worth emphasising to all Learners reading this – an Examiner will not like you driving continually too slow for the conditions.  They really, really wont like it.  Once you pass, you try sitting behind someone doing 15 in a 30 all the time, it will drive you mad.  I gave a real example of this problem in this blog not so long ago, where I and several others were sat behind an old lady doing 40 in a 60 – it is mighty dangerous as people generally get seriously naffed off with it and can start doing dodgy overtakes.  My Learner was lucky on this occasion, the Examiner made a comment, and my Learner realised what the message was.

But the lesson here is the Examiner was not obliged to say a word, and could easily have chosen to say nothing, and then have given a fail for that speed issue, so be warned everyone.