I had a pupil on test this morning, and she failed. She’s a good driver, but gets nervous on test (she is dyslexic and has to try very hard to carry out the manoeuvres correctly). She’s a trainee nurse and, on the bursary she has to live on, cannot afford to keep taking lessons or paying for tests. She bought a car, but she’s going to have to sell it because she can’t afford to keep it sitting on the road if she can’t drive it. Her result was actually quite good – she just made a simple mistake.
Like I say, she’s a good driver – easily safe enough to drive on her own, but obviously you have to perform better than that in order to pass the test.
I was driving her home and she was struggling to keep the tears in check. We came to a mini-roundabout and I waited to let a lorry and a couple of cars coming the opposite way turn right. Behind them was a grey 4×4 being driven by a woman (reg no. AJ57 AHC ). You know the type: she could barely see above the steering wheel, but having a big, kick-ass 4×4 that you can’t handle properly is an essential status symbol for a lot of very insecure people (and women in particular, it must be said).
She wasn’t indicating, but she WAS turning right! She started to turn, THEN indicated, and it became clear she was also on the phone judging by the way her mouth was going and the way her head was cocked to hold the phone between her ear and shoulder!
My pupil asked the question: “why do THEY get licences when they do things like that?”
And that is the question to which there really is no satisfactory answer.