A question about : Do driving test examiners prefer driving schools?
As well as learning in his own car, son took a couple of lessons from a driving school to get tweaked for the test and was considered ready for test. He has daily driving pratice and having been alongside him throughout his learning (I have 32 years driving experience in the UK, Europe, parts of Africa and India), I was confident in his abilities of being a safe and competent driver.
He is accustomed to his car and took it for his test today. Unfortunately he failed at his 1st attempt at the practical driving test. He failed on not looking over his back while reversing in a bay at the test centre even though he made full use of his mirrors and there was nobody else parked in any of the bays, driving at 45mph on the 50mph of the A50 (he said there was traffic so he was keeping a safe distance). He also missed a roundabout exit but was reassured by the examiner it's fine to go to the next roundabout and retake the exit. The examiner didn't ask for an emergency stop, reverse into a side road, 3 point turn or paralell parking.
It felt as though the examiner didn't bother going through a full test and just cut it short. It also seemed like the examiners knew the other driving instructors there on first name terms. Do examiners favour testers who come to test with a driving school, in a school's car? Would it be advisable for him to go for his next test with a school with the instructor sitting in on the test?
Thanks.
Best answers:
- As far as I was aware the full test had to be given even after an action thats an automatic fail unless the driving is so bad that its too dangerous to continue.
The fact you arent aware that you must be looking backwards and not reliant on just mirrors does suggest that you may not know all the "guidelines" of how they want you to drive to be able to pass. Most driving instructors will say they are teaching you how to pass a test not how to drive.
In theory no there should be no difference who brings someone in, if they were favouring/ disadvantaging people because who their instructor is clearly it could cost them their job. On the flip side they are human and I'd be surprised if there isnt a trend that some instructors routinely put people in too early and others beyond the point they need to be at and so pass marks would reflect this even without corruption.
There could be some bottles of whiskey exchanged but then there's a certain argument that a failure actually is preferable for the instructor as they get to give the person more lessons. More likely is that human fallibility may mean a few instructors pupils get a bit more benefit of the doubt but I doubt its that material. - They prefer dual controls, put it that way...
- Not surprised he failed for the bay parking issue. Not checking your blind spot is dangerous.
- Allow me to set the record straight.
Examiners are not only impartial, they are total strangers to you and your son. That means they couldn't possibly have anything to hold against you. There is no motivation for issuing a fail "for the sake of it" as they have absolutely nothing to gain for doing so.
If you were not present during the test to witness what really happened, you are relying on the recall of events from the candidate. The same candidate whose judgement wasn't quite good enough to pass the test will only give you his version of events as perceived through his somewhat clouded judgement. Quite often, they will never admit to the gravity of their mistakes. I once overheard a candidate telling his instructor after a test that he "failed for touching the kerb". What he didn't tell his instructor was that he actually mounted it and reversed over the footpath by several feet with both nearside wheels.
Let's look at some of the points you raised:
Quote: - I would second the excellent post by DaveF327 and would just like to add that I have sat in on driving tests where candidates have failed and I have been aware that they are going to fail by mistakes I have seen them make during the test and have rarely ever been able to question an examiners decision, on analysis after a test the pupil often cannot see where or what they have done wrong until it is explained to them in detail.
Consequently pupils that fail a test with just the examiner in the car are not capable of a proper analysis of what they have done and sometimes think they have had an unfair or biased examiner, whereas if they had driven to the required standard they would have passed. - 'It's a limit not a target' is usually said when people are trying to justify slow driving.
I doubt anyone would've criticised him driving 45 in a 50 if weather was bad, roads were really wet etc. but part of the driving test is that you should be making good progress. If there's no reason not to drive 50, then drive 50. - arcon5
Quote: - I dunno, I failed largely due to the examiner with mine. He took me down a road that was very narrow and someone was having a party or something. Double parked cars all over.
We got to the end of the road and I had to edge the car round, checking the mirror to make sure we were clear.
Examiner stopped the car, opened the door and said it was ok to go on, "he just wanted to check". Given there was a foot of space so he could open the door, I asked why he didn't just look in the mirror. It was a stupid thing for him to do (no other faults) and he even said my driving was "exemplary" but he was failing me anyway.
While I agree the examiner is meant to be impartial, in reality if any test centre had a 100% pass rate then they would be getting examined themselves. I suspect very much that some people get failed just to make the numbers look right. - I taught my wife to drive back in 1990 but she had a couple of "proper" lessons before her test and took the test in the instructors car this was mainly so that the instructor could show her what was needed to pass rather than drive.
Needing to drive at the speed limit is something that I did not know about but having read the comments above it seems totally logical now and you can see the reason for it.
I don't think I have ever met anyone who failed because of their driving, it was always something else to blame ;-)
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