One thing that doesn't change though, are some of the myths that surround it - let's take a look at three of the most common ones.
"You must hold your hands at quarter to two and shuffle the wheel for your driving test"
This one is possibly the mother of all myths!
I remember being told this when I passed my learner level driving test back in 1991, but when I think back, I don't actually think I heard it from my Driving Instructor! I heard it from everyone else including my friends (who were all fresh out of school like me and couldn't drive, like me, so what qualifications did they have to go around saying that really?) and my Mum and Dad (who had limited experience on the subject, having taken just three driving tests between them 20 years before and were routinely crossing their arms when steering in front of me without apparently suffering any bad consequences). I'm pretty sure that my actual Driving Instructor, who was very experienced and would have overseen many driving tests over the years (I estimate that I'm approaching 1000 tests at the time of writing), didn't actually tell me not to cross my arms and cite it as a reason for failing a test.
The situation now, as it was when I took my ADI qualifying exams in 2005, is that Driving Examiners don't mind how you steer the car or hold the wheel as long as you demonstrate good control of your car - if it mounts the pavement as you negotiate a bend, then you'll fail for steering, regardless of how you held the steering wheel.
Having said that, the quarter to two method of holding the wheel remains the best grip as it is balanced and comfortable and feeding the wheel through the hands remains the advised way of steering as it leaves the space in front of the driver clear for the airbag to deploy if necessary and leaves it easy to adjust the car's line as it goes around a corner... but it's not mandatory and this one's a myth for certain!
"Driving Examiners have to pass a certain percentage of people each week to control how many people are on the roads"
Now I know that a few of my fellow Driving Instructors go around fuelling this one which is a shame because it isn't true.
As I passed my driving test on the first attempt back in 1991, I have no idea of what my own Instructor would have said if I'd failed. I am aware that quite a few of my friends came back saying it at the time though - "it wasn't my fault, I didn't do anything wrong, we could only get a test on a Friday and the examiner had obviously passed his quota for the week and had to fail me"
It just doesn't work like that - there'd be in court if a driving test candidate could prove that they were always compliant with the Highway Code or that a certain coloured car that was "forced to take action" didn't exist and of course, we ALL have dashcams now, so that evidence is not only there, it's recorded!
The really big problem with this though is the "it wasn't my fault" bit - if you fail your driving test, it is ALWAYS your fault! To think otherwise is to leave yourself open to the prospect of failing multiple attempts at the test and following on from that, the possibility of having regular crashes (which are also your fault, no matter what the Police and insurance company says - you should protect yourself from the bad driving of others and failing to do so is just as bad as them making a mistake). People who don't take personal responsibility for their own actions and blame everyone else for anything that goes wrong on the roads are a danger to us all!
The driving test has always been about reading the road. Look around you, take in the information presented to you (including information you gain by watching what other road users are doing to try and anticipate their actions without assuming that they're always going to do the worst possible thing - the majority of people are just trying to get somewhere and aren't stupid). If you do this and do it well you will very likely pass your driving test, it's that simple.
"You have to set your mirrors up to one side a bit so that the examiner can see you check them"
The mirrors are fitted to the car so you can see what's happening behind and to the sides of your vehicle and you should never alter your current speed or road position without checking the mirrors first and considering how your move will affect traffic around you. In addition to that, you must always know what's going on back there, so check regularly enough to remain updated of any changes in the traffic behind and to the sides.
Driving Examiners, like Driving Instructors, spend a lot of time in training observing what is happening to their sides. They only have the one mirror fitted to their side of the windscreen, so they develop very good peripheral vision. As much as it looks like they're only watching the road, both Examiners and Instructors are actually constantly looking at you to make sure that you do what you're being asked to or are supposed to do - they don't miss mirror checks!
Now having said that, I do believe that there is sometimes a fair and honest response from a learner driver that they felt that HAD checked the mirrors before acting and that they hadn't been seen and were subsequently unfairly "accused" of not checking. What I believe is happening here is that the learner doesn't understand what it is they're actually looking for in the mirrors, leaving them thinking that they just need "a quick glance every few seconds" in order to be seen to be using the mirrors correctly, when in fact, we're looking not only at the movement of the eyes, but the operation of the brain too - in other words, does the driver appear to be acting safely and sensibly on what they see in the mirrors and could they change their intended action if something unusual was happening around them.
My advice on the use of mirrors is to search out hazards in the road that have the potential to cause you to change your current position or speed and use these as a prompt to check your mirrors. When you do so, look AT the mirror, so you can accurately take in what it shows you (the head movement helps an observer, but isn't essential) and check at least two mirrors as part of each check - start with the centre one, and add a side one as appropriate to increase the field of rearward vision or to check alongside the car before it moves that way. The final bit of advice is to do all this early enough to be able to change your plan if you see something in the mirrors that requires you to do so - if there is a cyclist alongside you before you turn left for example, you can't turn left with them there and it's not good seeing them after you've set the turn in motion, it's too late.
So if you're preparing for your driving test at the moment, there's hopefully some tips in there to try and keep you focused on the kind of mindset you're trying to develop - these myths and comments people make are not helpful to you in trying to achieve your goal. National pass rates are around 47% and remain pretty much constant regardless of what the changes are made to the actual content of the test and I'm sure that many more people would be successful if they simply changed their attitude towards what they're doing - the driving test is actually a test of your ability to drive, and if you believe you'll only learn after passing it (which is another myth we could talk about) they you'll never pass, because you'll never demonstrate an ability to drive... unless of course you're just lucky on the day, and you don't really want a result based on that either really do you?
Nick Heath Driver Training is a multi-car driving school operating in the areas of Alsager, Crewe, Sandbach, Congleton, Biddulph and Audley and all of the surrounding areas. We offer a one stop shop for driver training from the complete novice learners who are looking to obtain a driving licence for the first time, through refresher training and pass plus to advanced driving qualifications and Driving Instructor training. If you think we can help you, click on our website or call 0800 820 20 38 for more details
