Giving your kid tips on passing their driving test? Why not start with the top reasons they might fail?
Tim Danter owns the DriveWise school in Oakville, Ont. He’s prepared thousands of teenagers for their roadway rite of passage.
Additionally, he carries out assessments for corporate fleets of drivers of all ages, getting a front row seat to how our driving improves as we age – and how it deteriorates.
Parallel parking: Eavesdrop on a roomful of 18-year-olds discussing their final road test, and you’ll hear a lot of talk about parallel parking. This was the bugaboo when I was getting my test; surely it’s a myth?
“No, you mess up the parallel parking badly enough, you’ll flunk your test,” according to Danter. “It’s about positioning, but it’s also about jumping the curb or not having control of the vehicle as you back up.”
Dangerous action: “If the examiner has to take physical or verbal control of the car, that’s a fail,” says Danter. If you’ve pulled out in front of a car or made a dangerous lane change, you’ll be rebooking. Sure-fire way to know if you’ve screwed up? “If you get honked at; getting honked at is not a good sign.”
Lack of confidence: Danter says many learning drivers think by driving under the speed limit or hesitating too long at intersections, they’ll be exhibiting a caution that will be rewarded. They’re wrong. “They’re not showing true mastery of the skills. They’ll lose points, and operating the vehicle that way doesn’t reflect real life applications.” This is all before the problem with impeding the flow of traffic is taken into consideration.
A driving record develops very much like a credit rating. For young drivers, starting that driving record as early as possible will lighten the insurance load years down the road.
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Collision: “The test is over. Doesn’t matter who caused the crash, protocol is that the test is stopped.” I asked if fault is determined by an examiner, and the impact that might have on future tests. “If the applicant isn’t at fault, they simply rebook the test. If they are at fault, they will be charged by police under the Highway Traffic Act.” Losing demerits points and/or getting a fine before you even get your final licence in the mail; bummer.
Read more: These bad driving habits need to be outlawed already
Too many errors: the most common reason of all. Break the law, you’ve failed. Yes, that means even a little bit of speeding. If you take a look at the list of ways you can mess up, you will notice a lot of little boxes waiting to be ticked on that long piece of paper on the examiner’s clipboard. Here in Ontario, for example, a lane change is broken down into eight movements; eight different chances to earn a tick on one exercise. You not only have to complete 10 different sections (comprised of 24 subsections), you have to do it safely and with confidence. You need to master the skills, not just know them.
Don’t laugh off out-of-state traffic tickets because in today’s information age, someone will find out.
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I asked Danter about people driving to rural communities to take their final tests, circumventing crowded city streets and things like cyclists and pedestrians. “People do it; technically, a DriveTest facility is the same anywhere, but it’s absolutely different in smaller communities.” It’s not a myth. Some driving instruction places advertise their high pass rates achieved by ferrying students – for a fee – to more remote testing areas. If you’ve ever wondered how some people manage to get licensed, part of your answer might be here.
So when Danter is doing fleet assessments of experienced drivers, it must be easy. He laughs. “We see a different set of behaviours. The top three offences are speeding, following too closely and compromised observation skills.” Experience is a good thing behind the wheel, but the actions of seasoned drivers can be the reverse of the beginners; no more nerves, but not enough caution.
Also read: 10 parking offences that need to stop right now
It can be nerve-wracking for parents as the new drivers in the house are learning. I’ve driven with people who are instinctively good drivers at a young age; I’ve driven with many who, with experience, drive well. And I’ve driven with people who have no business being behind the wheel, either at all or any longer. Instead of allowing wannabe drivers to go fishing for easier places to take their licences, it should be harder to get licensed, period. We should be retesting far sooner than the 80-year-old cut off in many places, as Danter’s corporate reassessments show. Car fatalities are falling because of the safer car surrounding the driver, not because of a better driver behind the wheel.
Recently, a video of a 92-year-old Wisconsin man hitting nine cars in a parking lot in about a minute went viral. He drove off, after ramming them both in forward and reverse. The most stunning part? No charges were laid. Here’s a guy who only needed one more car to score a perfect strike, yet telling police he panicked is good enough.
Too bad it’s only the kids who are so nervous about driving well.
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