Driving test

[Fabian]

I failed... for the third time. Ah well. The annoying thing is that I'm eager to get back on the horse, so to speak, and re-take it ASAP but I'll have to wait three months now until I get back from the States!  :tantrum:

12 faults, of which 2 were serious - he really had a thing about my closeness to parked cars when driving... which has never ever been something I've been accused of. He marked me down three times for it. The other serious was failing to observe some speeding f***wits when I was doing a parallel park.

SIGH.

4th time lucky?

[Custom_Hobby]

Sorry to hear that mate. I guess the foruth time will be the charm. It sounds like he was a tight wad.

[Inso]

Unlucky mate  :icon_sad:.

Better luck next time though.  Hopefully not with the same examiner  :icon_evil:.

[Fabian]

He was indeed a bit of a get. :icon_neutral: My instructor said he's always 'dry' and never cracks a smile.

Cheers fellas!  :icon_wink:

Edit: I fixed the smiley :icon_wink: -Mike

[cheddarmonger]

I'm eager to get back on the horse

Maybe that's the problem.  Perhaps you should start by getting in a car.

[Custom_Hobby]

LOL, too funny David

[Fabian]

:yeahthat: I meant to make that joke in the post ; guess I forgot. I can definitely see a progression in my attitude to driving, though, which is good. I just find the maneuveurs really difficult; I have trouble relating where the car to what I have to do with the steering wheel when it's in reverse. It hurts my brain.  :icon_razz:

[Bungle]

Better luck next time.

I have been spending some time sitting in the passenger seat while my wife drives.

She passed her test 10 years ago and hadn't driven since.. so she has just had some pass plus lessons on motorways etc....

and I am trying to teach her how to drive properly... er less like a newbie.... she has almost got the hang of the very short clutch on her car.... I just need to get her to practice parrellel parking, maneouvering into parking spaces.. get an idea of how big the car is... burning people off at the lights.. flipping the Vs to other drivers.. driving one handed.... with the arm out the window.. you know all those bad habits you get into.

I can't teach her to apply makeup while driving with her elbows - no experience in that myself... only rolliing cigs while steering with thighs.

[Dr.Evil]

Spend some time in a carpark practing reversing and try to get your test in a small town where the traffic is less and you can't get many speeders.
You don't have to have the test where you live you know.  :icon_wink:

[Fabian]

Oh God, that would be worse to take it somewhere else! The only reason I wasn't crud*ping myself today was that we'd driven round so much of it on my lessons. I live in a small town but the tests take place in and around Ipswich, so I had some dual carriageway driving (piece of cake), and lots and lots of roundabouts and one way systems for which Ipswich is famous or infamous.

[Keeper]

Being rather a geek-boy, I found the best way to think about steering and reversing was to think of the car as being on the circumference of a circle.  I still imagine what the car is doing in plan view (i.e., from overhead) when I'm parking - I did it this morning when I pulled into work.

If you turn the wheel to the left, then the car will follow a circle and move off to the left, either forwards or backwards.
If you turn the wheel to the right, then the car will follow a circle and move off the the right, either forwards or backwards.

I hope this helps :)  It certainly cracked it for me.

[Fabian]

Hmm... circles eh... I know in my mind what the car should do but I'm completely mal-co-ordinated in general (it's taken me 10 years to be able to even drive without breaking into a cold sweat and wanting to vomit!). I guess I'll just have to keep practicing when I get back. Thanks though!

[Custom_Hobby]

Practise here too if you can

[Fabian]

There won't be any opportunity really... althought the camp does have go-karts!  :icon_w00t: That would be fun...