Driving test "Dumbed Down"!

[Fritillary]

That's easy. Drive and turn behind each other. Have I just failed my test?

Well - That's what I was taught, and what I've always done. But after 2 or 3 times of trying to do that recently and getting a baffled/outraged glare, as though I were a dangerous lunatic, I started to wonder. Asked others... some people saying also: turning in front of each other! After posting this afternoon I looked up the Highway Code which says better to turn behind, as you say, and as I've been doing, but also the other... tho as it says, not as safe as you don't get a clear view of what is following the other car. To me to have this 'both will do' confusion seems madness! Is this a HCode change since I learned?

 

[MartinL]

Has anybody read the H,code recently?

Think it's out of print, internet & all that!

There's an on-line "multiple choice" test you can take, but has very little to do with knowledge of the Highway code., just pick out the three nonsensical ones and you have the answer.
Questions like;
Why do we drive on the left?

• A, To p!55 off the French

• B, To avoid hitting cars driving on the right

• C, Because if you drive on the opposite side the roadsigns can only be read in your Rear-view Mirrors

• D, Because it's the law

 

[MartinL]

Well - That's what I was taught, , , ,

What about the people who paint the road?

Do we all think they have a working knowledge of the highway code, or just a 2:2 in road painting???????

 

[Anduril]

Think it's out of print, internet & all that!

There's an on-line "multiple choice" test you can take, but has very little to do with knowledge of the Highway code., just pick out the three nonsensical ones and you have the answer.
Questions like;
Why do we drive on the left?

• A, To p!55 off the French

• B, To avoid hitting cars driving on the right

• C, Because if you drive on the opposite side the roadsigns can only be read in your Rear-view Mirrors

• D, Because it's the law

You could try these.

http://www.safedrivingforlife.info/shop/product/official-highway-code-new-edition-2015
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code

 

[theeggman]

I've just looked at the H.code link and re. turning right may g*d help us, make it up as you go along. It's no wonder that some younger drivers are carp in my opinion given my advanced age, but it's what they are being taught and tested on.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Passing a test for a license to drive a car seems simple compared to passing the test for a high powered motorcycle these days.

 

[oliver90owner]

-convinced some drivers think indicators are on the cars to make them look pretty rather than to signal a maneuver.

I call drivers like that GWIGS (Guess Where I'm Going). They likely don't consider they are making a manoeuvre so they don't need to look in their rear view mirror.

How exactly do you manoeuvre around each other to both turn right?

Behind, normally, but that requires the driver behind the other one turning right to leave room (and also the one behind you), depending on one lane or two. Too many drivers try to cut corners where they cannot see what is coming.


I find that a lot of drivers don't know how to drive around (rather than past) a parked vehicle. They don't have a clue that they have (or require) the least width if they pass parallel to the parked vehicle.

 

[MartinL]

Passing a test for a license to drive a car seems simple compared to passing the test for a high powered motorcycle these days.

So you can no longer hop off your 125 from your test & nip down to Lands-end on your Hayabusa?

 

[Ely]

If you have a pushchair in the boot of the car you will never get it out if you reverse into the space, also if you have loads of shopping or sacks of compost etc that you need to put into the boot you would have to move the (reversed in) car and leave it sitting there while it was loaded.

I would be more worried about not testing that drivers are able to do 3 point turns. Also relying on satnav is daft, if we get solar flares interfering with satellites etc you will end up with chaos, everyone should be able to read a map.

I agree. Driving front forward into a space is perfectly reasonable dependent on circumstance. It is the nutters that drive too fast around super markets that don't realise they should slow down for drivers reversing out as they can't see that are the real problem. Then they shake their stupid dumb heads indignantly at you. That is why there is a 10mph limit. Common sense

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Passing a test for a license to drive a car seems simple compared to passing the test for a high powered motorcycle these days.

I've got grandfather rights

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I agree. Driving front forward into a space is perfectly reasonable dependent on circumstance. It is the nutters that drive too fast around super markets that don't realise they should slow down for drivers reversing out as they can't see that are the real problem. Then they shake their stupid dumb heads indignantly at you. That is why there is a 10mph limit. Common sense

Get a smart car and park at right angles to the kerb

 

[MartinL]

Get a smart car and park at right angles to the kerb

Which way round??

Reverse back against the kerb,
or blindly into the unsuspecting traffic??

 

[theeggman]

Which way round??

Reverse back against the kerb,
or blindly into the unsuspecting traffic??

If we are going to purchase things that need the back end then we find a suitable parking space, other than that I/We will always reverse in, because it's SO much safer leaving. I'd sooner see who's going to hit me.

 

[MartinL]

If you have a pushchair in the boot of the car you will never get it out if you reverse into the space, also if you have loads of shopping or sacks of compost etc that you need to put into the boot you would have to move the (reversed in) car and leave it sitting there while it was loaded.
everyone should be able to read a map.

If people didn't park in the loading bays you would be able to use them!
Obviously it's something that has been contrived by idiots who use the tube in London! how can reversing from a confined space into an open one be a better test of someone's ability?

. . . .It is the nutters that drive too fast around super markets that don't realise they should slow down for drivers reversing out as they can't see that are the real problem. . . . That is why there is a 10mph limit. Common sense

It's a "Maximum limit" not minimum speed for blindly backing out at!

 

[Swarm]

Every car in the supermarket using the loading bays? LOL!!

 

[For want of a better word]

Passing a test for a license to drive a car seems simple compared to passing the test for a high powered motorcycle these days.

True.....even more difficult to get than the Class 1 HGV licence according to one of my No1 son's mates... who has recently acquired both!!!

52 years on 2 wheels and only been nearly killed by an idiot in a car on a couple of occasions!
Did 700 miles on the trusty Triumph tripple up to Harper Adams and back via Guildford ( guess who was not in... but on a jolly in Italy!).
as Tracter Man should say... keep death off the roads... drive on the pavement!

Yeghes da

 

[pargyle]

Well... I think that all drivers should do the Police Driving Awareness course ... not just new ones - anyone who hasn't done one should ... eye opening and thought provoking.

I had my car written off last week by a driver who ran a red light at somewhere between 30 and 40mph and hit my car's front end ... it was a traffic light controlled roundabout and I was going through green lights, she came down a dual carriageway leading onto the roundabout and just didn't stop at the red light. She has accepted liability, there were plenty of witnesses who saw it all - ahe just 'didn't see the red light' ... just as well I was in a car and not on a motorbike or bicycle. The police are going to offer her a driving awareness course and an eyetest ...

As for me ... well with what the insurers will give me for my written off vehicle I'm going to buy a bottle of scotch and think about how I'm going to replace the reliable, well cared for but old car with something equivalent for what they think is the value of my car ... total PIA - although nobody was hurt and for that I'm grateful.

 

[For want of a better word]

Well... I think that all drivers should do the Police Driving Awareness course ... not just new ones - anyone who hasn't done one should ... eye opening and thought provoking.

I had my car written off last week by a driver who ran a red light at somewhere between 30 and 40mph and hit my car's front end ... it was a traffic light controlled roundabout and I was going through green lights, she came down a dual carriageway leading onto the roundabout and just didn't stop at the red light. She has accepted liability, there were plenty of witnesses who saw it all - ahe just 'didn't see the red light' ... just as well I was in a car and not on a motorbike or bicycle. The police are going to offer her a driving awareness course and an eyetest ...

As for me ... well with what the insurers will give me for my written off vehicle I'm going to buy a bottle of scotch and think about how I'm going to replace the reliable, well cared for but old car with something equivalent for what they think is the value of my car ... total PIA - although nobody was hurt and for that I'm grateful.

Pargie... good excuse to buy a Defender... hit one of those and you're toast!

Yeghes da

 

[Ely]

Well... I think that all drivers should do the Police Driving Awareness course ... not just new ones - anyone who hasn't done one should ... eye opening and thought provoking.

I had my car written off last week by a driver who ran a red light at somewhere between 30 and 40mph and hit my car's front end ... it was a traffic light controlled roundabout and I was going through green lights, she came down a dual carriageway leading onto the roundabout and just didn't stop at the red light. She has accepted liability, there were plenty of witnesses who saw it all - ahe just 'didn't see the red light' ... just as well I was in a car and not on a motorbike or bicycle. The police are going to offer her a driving awareness course and an eyetest ...

As for me ... well with what the insurers will give me for my written off vehicle I'm going to buy a bottle of scotch and think about how I'm going to replace the reliable, well cared for but old car with something equivalent for what they think is the value of my car ... total PIA - although nobody was hurt and for that I'm grateful.

Never accept an insurance company's first quote

 

[MartinL]

Well... I had my car written off last week . . . . . she came down a dual carriageway . . . and just didn't stop at the red light.
She has accepted liability,

there were plenty of witnesses who saw it all -
.

MMM wonder what SHE would have said if it was just the two of you???

My Sister has a dash cam, it shows anyone who pulls out in, front of her, but not those she cuts up or reverses into at the supermarket!
Think she took her test 5 times!