I know you’re going to hate me when I say this, but I passed my driving lesson first time, when I was 17. My learning to drive was not without its mishaps, though, with a black cat running in front of the car incident, and many arguments ending in tears with my long suffering dad.
But I was delighted to pass at 17. I have now been driving for over 10 years and contrary to some statistics, I have never had a bump or an accident of any kind.
I am safe, courteous, and hate selfish drivers – especially those who cruise down the middle lane of a motorway – don’t even get me started…
However, I have a few friends who are petrified of driving. Some have even passed their test, but still can’t get behind the wheel. Some haven’t even bothered to learn – and they are in their fifties!
Whether its nerves, lack of student motivation, an accident you have encountered in the past, or just sheer laziness, you CAN overcome these fears.
Here are the top 5 mistakes that often cause people to fail their driving test:
1 – Mirrors, signal, maneuver
We all know this mantra- even 10 years after passing my test, and I still do it every time!
You would do this if you were just a pedestrian – think of it like that!
You would check around you (equivalent to mirrors), make sure you are not in anyone’s way and would tell someone you were off.
Suddenly leaping up and crashing into someone coming the other way is not just silly, it’s unsafe and makes you look mad! So why would you do that in a car? Just apply the same common sense!
2 – Reversing round a corner
It amazes me that this is so high on the list, because I can honestly say that I hardly ever have to reverse around a corner! It is a bit puzzling as to why it is required as a maneuver.
But mostly, it’s about doing the same thing forward as you would back – check out for anyone else, move slowly and keep to the curb by looking in the mirrors. If you applied it to the same as walking backwards, you get the picture – you always move more slowly and are more careful, aren’t you?
3 – Using the gears appropriately
This takes a while to learn. I didn’t get this at first – I really just was using the appropriate gear to the sound of the engine and the number on the rev counter!
Riding a bike in my teens, really made me fully appreciate gears – I got a good bike with 18 gears, and suddenly, I realized that low gears are for going slowly and getting you up things (such as hills) and the high gears are for cruising.
Stalling is simply a matter of being in neutral instead of first gear when moving off. This should be easy to remember – you have to be in one gear to go, so remember…make it the first gear!
4 – Hesitation and driving too slowly
It is my experience that drivers that are too slow are about as dangerous as those who go all out for leather and do 90mph on a dual highway. I know that seems hard to believe, but those who use the brakes a lot, who stop and start, who have an erratic driving speed, are all highly dangerous.
Work your way up the gears, and when you reach 30mph, you should be in fourth gear. Then use the road signs as indicators – maximum 50 miles an hour, you should not be doing 30. You should be doing 40, 45 and above. Otherwise you just cause frustration on the road and especially make me really, really cross!
5 – Using the mirrors during driving
I know what it’s like – when you are learning to drive; you don’t even trust the mirrors. You physically want to turn all the way round to make sure that what you see in the mirror is true!
There used to be an old wives tale when I learned, that says you have to move your head when you check the mirrors, and the instructor or examiner will look for that – but it’s not true. They can tell!
It’s like looking around you when you are walking, cycling, or running – you do have to know what is around you, and it can change at any time. Therefore, the recommendation is that between 25% and 50% of the time you are driving, you should be glancing into the mirrors – the other half, keep your eyes on the road!
Good luck with your next test – hopefully these tips will help you!
About the author: Elise Lévêque is an ambitious freelance translator with a passion for anything and everything social media. She can often be found sipping on a latté, and wandering the city with her Lomo camera on the hunt for the newest piece of controversial art. There are few things she loves more than her freedom, and she loves to blog for Carrot Rewards.co.uk in her spare time.
Photo credit: Csizmadia József