...How many of you did that the first time you took it?

I just have, because I went through an amber light at a junction when the junction was not clear, meaning when the light went red, I was sitting on the junction behind another car. I'm not looking for sympathy because I know it was my fault- I know I'll pass the next time and at least I know what to expect now.

From what I've gathered, the UK driving test isn't much liked round these parts, I'd be interested to hear your opinions or praise/gripes on the test format and how it varies around the world.

Learning to drive a car over here, you don't get taught about what causes over/understeer or why and how tyres lose grip/wear etc. IMO, this is why you get so many young FnF fans either wrecking their cars by entering a corner too fast then understeering and braking hard or wrecking their tyres and suspension by fitting 19" wheels to a Corsa. Just my 2 pennies.

i made it on the first try ... no false answers on the theory test either

although i thought i failed miserably when we were back where we started after just about 25 mins (tests are usually 45 mins in germany) without having to park the car or anything of the "difficult" stuff ... especially since i stopped about half a meter behind the line on the first red light in an attempt to brake extra smoothly

Where I live, there isn't even a driving test. Only a written one (which I did fail).

So far in my existence I have taken 6 (SIX) driving tests....(7 if you count the one for aircraft proximity driving in the RAF)...and passed them all first time...guess I was just born lucky!

in belgium there is a test with questions dunno how to say, and theres a part that u have to drive... the part u have to drive is dangerous... when i go with my bike to school, all those people tryi'n to drive... so stressed
i wish i had a driverslicense... but i'm happy with my lfs license

Quote from thisnameistaken :

I've never taken a driving test. Everybody I know in the UK who failed their test the first time made way more mistakes the second time and passed. I get the feeling the examiners basically fail anyone who they don't think is confident enough, regardless of how textbook their driving is.

I have always thought that, apparently, if you are to pass second, third time then you have a bit more experience as you would have more lesson inbetween!

i didnt fail the first time but uuuh i guess its more or less luck and here more than 50% fail ...

dont be angry

Passed car and bike theory tests with full marks, and got 0 minor faults on the car test. The bike test I passed, and wasn't told anything, so I've always thought that was spot on too.

I'll get my coat...

Quote from kiss me :

in belgium there is a test with questions dunno how to say, and theres a part that u have to drive... the part u have to drive is dangerous... when i go with my bike to school, all those people tryi'n to drive... so stressed
i wish i had a driverslicense... but i'm happy with my lfs license

Theory test, pictures of traffic situations/signs, a question, 2-3 answers, and you gotte pick the right one. There are 50 questions, you are allowed to answer 9 wrong. I passed with 8 wrong answers. Nice story about this though, before you jump to conclusions:

Thursday morning, 8:30. My mom calls me to wake me up, she tells me: if you get up now, you can join your brother-in-law to the garage to fix your sisters' car. After that he'll drive you to the test center for your theory. He has to be at the garage by 10, so you can learn untill then. So I got up faster than ever, learned the hardest things, forgot about technical stuff like tyre pressure, and as a result I answered these kind of questions wrong, but the rest was perfect.

Tomorrow I'm having my 7th driving lesson of 10. The 6th of January I'll get my temporary license which will let me drive alone, or with a person, who has to have a license for at least 6 years. Yes, I'm very confident in getting my temp license, I'm having no troubles, in all these lessons I only stalled the car once, and that was after they told me I should stay off the clutch longer... But not that long

The practical test over here is like this: 45 minutes driving on the road, parking and turning in a street needs to be done on the streets (that used to be on a carpark, between poles instead of cars and annoyed people around you, that changed since 9 september, people who started learning before still had to do it on the carpark... Guess when I was allowed to start). I'm really confident in all this, and in contrary to what my gf tried to tell me... I'm still enjoying my lessons and looking forward to my very own license and car!

Yeah, it's a written test here too, all multiple guess questions, and then a physical driving test of about 25 to 30 minutes.
I passed both on the first try, and I'm sure it's the same everywhere. When you're confident enough and show it you'll pass. I damn near wrecked it on a roundabout because some eeeediot tried to go left from a right turn lane at the last possible second. Luckily I saw him coming and took some evasive action (thanks to LFS for knowing where to look for divebombing morons, examinatrix asked me why I was repeatedly tapping the dash behind the wheel afterwards. Told her the truth: "I was spamming him with "Where'd you learn to drive, you n00b!!!!" messages using the F6 key").

passed my theory with no wrong answers, and passed my first driving test with just 1 minor fault which was being too wide during the left reverse. I did think I got more than that because I thought i hit the kerb in the 3 point turn. But I mustn't have

Driving tests here are far, FAR too easy. With the amount of absolutely horribly terribly crappy drivers, there has to be a problem in the system.

Having said that, a lot of people fail who shouldn't fail. I suppose that's the problem with discretionary tests. Having someone deciding to pass or fail you isn't a good system, but it's the only way. I guess we just need to pay them more so they're not all disgruntled all the time. Then again, I'll just make a scene to get my license when I finally get around to going for it.

..I really should get on that...

This reminds me of the program I saw last night, it was about old people, between the age of 90 and 100, that still drove. There was this old lady, which only drove to her hairdressers, which was 200 metres away, she drove 25 kms/year.

And this guy, I think he was 96, still drove RACES on Silverstone with the car his dad bought him way back in 1930... He was one of the oldest people holding a racing license. He finished 17th in a pack of 29, which were all younger people, incluiding his son.

I've just past my theory test with no wrong answers and 52/75 on the spend 14 minutes clicking a mouse test. I fear the driving test may be a bit harder though. My instructor has told me that the thing to do is to drive confidently and the examiner is a lot less likely to fail you as the examiner will always be able to find a reason to fail you if he wants to.

Pass rate is 42% in the UK my mate recently got failed for waiting at traffic lights in neutral, I don't understand the sense in the official line of waiting everywhere in gear and holding the car on a hill in traffic with clutch slip rather than the handbrake, seems to me this concept is both leaving the car unrestrained and burning the clutch out.

Quote from sgt.flippy :

And this guy, I think he was 96, still drove RACES on Silverstone with the car his dad bought him way back in 1930... He was one of the oldest people holding a racing license. He finished 17th in a pack of 29, which were all younger people, incluiding his son.

That's the late Tom Delaney who I saw race at least once a year in his 1928 Lea Francis

http://www.lfoc.org/LFOC_PHOTO ... Tom%20Delaney%20F_500.jpg

You have to be a complete idiot to fail a drivers test in North America.

Quote from jayhawk :

You have to be a complete idiot to fail a drivers test in North America.

Is it really true that in some states there is no practical driving test?

Quote from thisnameistaken :

I've never taken a driving test. Everybody I know in the UK who failed their test the first time made way more mistakes the second time and passed. I get the feeling the examiners basically fail anyone who they don't think is confident enough, regardless of how textbook their driving is.

This is indeed true, and unfortunately the first time I took my test, I got a man notorious in the area for failing young boys on their first attempt (talk about unlucky) - or so my instructor told me.

Needless to say... he failed me on one major (only 1 minor), for apparently causing another car to slow down (the fact that you could barely see the car in the mirror [it was so far behind] was somehow deemed to be irrelevant by the examiner).

The strange thing was, we followed the same test route as a young girl who was on her 1st test, too, and with a female examiner... she stalled in various places, manouvered in dangerous ways, etc. and somehow she passed...

Regardless, passed second time.

Edit As for the theory and hazard perception... 35/35 on the theory, and 60-something/75 in the hazard perception.

I passed my theory first time with 35/35 and 64/75 in the clicky game.

I also passed my driving test first time, it's pretty piss easy as long as you don't lose your cool like some of my friends did. Although I got a few minors for things like driving too quickly in a built up area for the road conditions, I'm sorry but is 20mph not slow enough for hailstones? (Was a 20mph zone). Then in the same conditions on the dual carriageway I got more minors for driving `too` slowly, was doing 60mph. Crazy!

Tbh I think the test is a waste of time in it's current state. At no point are you ever taught how to control a car, more the basics on how to work it. I seriously believe a bit of time on a track even in karts should be brought in. I bet it would put many people in there place when it comes to thinking how good a driver they actually are. People are led to believe they are good drivers when they pass there test and during there lessons but in actual fact most road users probably haven't got the slightest clue about what to do in the heat of the moment.

Was like the other day there the traffic was qued a lot further back than usual on a blind corner and my Dad in the van braked but with the ice just locked up. So he pumped the brake pedal to get him around the corner while cars were on the other side of the road and then released it and went down the side of the cars (wrong side of the road). Now the person at the back of the queue had the stupidest reaction I've ever seen and could have caused an accident. He jammed his car into reverse and shot off backwards. Had someone else come around the corner like my Dad did (only doing 45mph in a 60) he'd have hit him. The guy was lucky that my Dad isn't the sort to panic and knows what he is doing, had it been probably 85%(?) of road users, they'd have probably gone straight into the back of him.

Everytime I hear the police comment of "What will it take to stop these young drivers" "What will we have to do" etc... The answer is teach people how to control there car not how to work it. Something which could easily be introduced into the test or even as a secondary course which could reduce your insurance. That pass plus thing is an absolute joke (i've not done it but a few of my friends have) and it teaches you nothing, just take the instructor on a 6 hour drive it would seem. Why not replace that scheme with 45mins at a kart track with someone who knows what they are talking about and then make people realise. For the money pass plus costs I'm sure you could do something cheaper at a track. Especially when it could be done in groups.

Keiran

Skidpans. Half an hour each. Oversteer, Understeer, Cadence braking etc all in one easy to digest dose. Then prescribe two karting sessions of not less than 10 laps each, then another half hour skid pan with an instructor. Would save more lives than all the cancer research money

Sure there is. Lift off oversteer is EASY to get in many many road cars, especially in rain/ice, which is when you need to know what to do to correct it.

Many people die exiting stage backwards, so why not help them too, and give the stage forwards people some fun on the skidpans!

Quote from jayhawk :

You have to be a complete idiot to fail a drivers test in North America.

lmao, i know alot of people that failed their 1st try. i am not one of them though.

You guys who failed should be ashamed of being part of the Live for Speed community (especially the US test, takes an idiot to fail it)

I flunked the bike skills test here my first time around. I ended up dropping the bike (my 250cc dirt/dual-purpose bike) on the slalom, I think mainly due to the fact I was focusing on my line and not so much on the throttle, so when I should have been going no faster than 4 mph, I think I ended up accelerating to 8 mph. In other words, it was due to lack of experience. The second time around I had no problems.

I think it's also interesting to note that I was the only one there with a "full-blown" bike. Everyone else had a scooter. During the braking test, one guy even did an endo!

The car test, on the other hand, was a joke.

Here in Serbia, the chances you fail your first time are 95%!!
They see if it is your first driving test, and just because of that, they will fail you! They make up some excuse, like, you haven't looked your rear mirror, or something like that...
I failed 2 times, and now on 5th January, i go for the third time.
Last time i went, 5 out of 40 people passed!! That's just ridicolous!
Dirty cops, and dirty instructors, you have to have some contratcs, or you have to caugh up extra cash in order to pass, which i will probably do, i don't want to be treated like a moron and wait to pass "properly"...
They failed one guy with the reason "you were going too slow uphill"???

I passed both my car and full bike license first time.

TBH, it's nothing to be ashamed of, driving is subject to so many outside forces that it is quite difficult to pre-empt everything.

Personally, I would like to see a probationary period for newly qualified drivers, probably till at least 25 seeing how some of the idiots drive, in this probationary period they should be allowed to drive anything over 1000cc, and have SEVERE sanctions if they break the law.

Things are already getting tougher, like the, get 6 points within 2 years and you have to re-sit your test thing, 6 points isn't a lot, you could EASILY get that in about 2 hours.

Examiners shouldn't really be teaching understeer/oversteer and grip, simply because new drivers shouldn't ever be driving in such a way to cause ANY of these conditions.

The driving test gives you a license to drive, it doesn't mean you have the slightest idea how to drive, it's not till you pass your test and have been driving for a good few years do you start to know how to REALLY drive.