Failed my driving test.

[Awandyn]

Instructor was right in that the pedestrian had the right of way (I know that some countries and possibly some states have different rules regarding this though). That said, a lot of it depends on the examiner of the test and on you not making a critical error (which is an automatic fail, like what happened). Also remember that even though you've seen every other driver ignore pedestrians who are 10+ meters away does not mean that it is legal (doubt you would ever get a ticket though) and that you are the one who is at risk of not getting your license. A lot of people I've seen quickly forget everything they learned while they had their permit, and in the end usually end up with a ticket or are fortunate enough to shave a few seconds off their commute.

[Deleted]

Helo you guys, this will be my final bump in this thread just to inform you that I've passed it the 2nd time ! , did everything right, let pedestirans pass and all that. The examinator said everything was good and I passed it !

thanks to all of you for making me realise that my mistake was a really bad one for my first attempt.

[TJ]

Gz i passed mine on friday with 1 minor, dont know what yours was like but i felt like i was nervous for nothing, half an hour of driving that went by in what seemed like no time at all.

[Deleted]

Gz i passed mine on friday with 1 minor, dont know what yours was like but i felt like i was nervous for nothing, half an hour of driving that went by in what seemed like no time at all.

there was one minority where the examinator asked me to leave my car as I would do in reality (like for going to the shop or something) and I left my keys on the car. He said I should have taken them with me

[Glittercide]

He was right. Pedestrians always have the right away.

That, to me, is a lot more important than not using a turn signal or doing a rolling stop.

Not in India. You don't cross the road here unless you want to get hit. Of course, India is a special case... there are no rules of the road and if there are, no one follows them and no one enforces them unless the cops are short pocket money. /shrug

[Xothic]

You have to drive unrealistically carefully on your driving tests.

[alemaite]

I failed my test 3 times, this is gonna sound crazy but trust me all of the 3 times it was for the dumbest reason ever... EVER! Mind you this was when I was still living in the U.S. First time, Stopped at a stop sign guy in a car on my right stopped way after me however was an asshole and went before me and no I wasn't taking forever. So I waited 'till he went ahead, FAILED, why?! Well because I should've gone anyways the guy said, I told him I would've hit the car know what he said? "Well you have to obey the rules no matter what", right because it's not your fucking car.

Next time, stopped at a red light. Guy said turn right so I did (in california you can turn right at red lights this case was NOT an exception), FAILED. Why? He told me the light was red, I told him "first you told me to turn right, secondly I can turn right even though it's red" he told me well it's still safer to wait or at least ask me if you should do it "WTF?!?!?!?!".

Third time (mind you when you fail 3 times you have to do it all over again), mexican lady comes in everything goes smooth. I drive stick (yea americans don't konw how the f* to drive stick) all goes wlel until the lady notices that I put the car on neutral when the lights are red and slowly brake to save gas FAILED. I mean WTF how come the other 2 guys didn't notice this?! Anyways I explained my situation to her and she was nice enough to still give me my license but seriously... It was a nightmare and I'm still not pushing the clutch for 10 hours when the lights are red still doing it on neutral I care about my knee...

Funny enough my girlfriend passed 1st time and she can't even park certain spots and ALWAYS wants me to drive. She admits I'm a better driver and she isn't terrible but I am better than her . And just FYI I was NEVER involved in an accident NEVER hit a car NOTHING ever HAPPENED my girlfriend however got several scratches on her car and even lost one completely and yes it was her fault.

[Aldrashan]

Pedestrians dont have right of way, unless on a designated crossing point.

If the designated crossing point is further than 50 meters away they can cross the road no problem.

[Pappahealar]

If you would have said when you drove past the pedestrian. "I thought I was going to go past the crossover way ahead of that pedestrian, but it turned out I didn't and that was a miss" I believe he might have had passed you because of the reason you were aware of what you missed and why.

Driving past a pedestrian at a crossover is never a minor issue. I can potentially paralyze that person if they happen to go out and you don't have time to stop in time. So everything that is dangerous to people while driving is NEVER a minor problem.

Edit: Congratulations on passing your second test. I also failed my first. I forgot to change to first gear from reverse when I had parked in a slope and there was a car behind me. I did react with breaking, but the instructor got there before me and since it was an intervention it was an automatic fail. However even though that happened after like 15 minutes we still continued driving for another 45 minutes. So this examiner tried it all. I showed my driving instructor the next driving lesson after I've failed exactly what we did in detail and he said "Wow, he really tested you". In addition over that parking failure I got a minor fail that was that I did drove a bit slow, I guess I was too cautious.

The next time I passed in like 15 minutes. And I was so focused at the time that I didn't notice that I actually knew the examiner He was a friend of dad that I had met at least ten times so when he gave me a hint I was like, oh fuck, I didn't notice it was you So I suppose he most likely passed me faster because he knew me. But I didn't mind

[Deleted]

But during the test there was a pedestrian who wanted to cross the road where cars have to stop for them but the pedestrian was still miles away and I thought I had time enough to pass it before the pedestrian would reach my position.

So a pedestrian approaches a pedestrian crossing, and you do not stop. The reason for this is, he is still far off and you can pass without obstructing or hindering him. Fair enough.

Though I don't really agree with his decision because such things happen every 5 minutes on the road and no one gives a real shit about pedestrians who try to cross a bussy road.

Wait... what?

And if all the other stuff on the exam was good, why would he let me fail for such a minority? What do you think, is the examinator right to not give me my license or should he have forgotten about it and still give it to me.

I agree with him 100%. Not stopping for pedestrian crossings is a serious offence. Even more so on rainy days!!!

[Arkbird]

If you had to stop and think about whether you could do something real quick and get away with it, then it was already a bad idea.

[Kirian42]

On-topic, you always seem to fail on driving test 1st time. Just so they can rank inn more money (All countries pays a fee right?), I know conspiracy and blablabla... but it seems alot fail it.

In the US (Ohio) the test has no associated fee, though your learner's permit does. I passed on the first try but was docked a few points for driving... too slow. Fifteen years later my sister *still* rags me about that part.

[Krystal]

I failed my first test because I didn't put down the parking brake when parking "on an incline" .. I swear if that spot he had me park was an incline, it was like a 10 degree one because it did not look like it to me. =|

As for your reasoning.. as others have said.. pedestrians do have the right of way. Just be super perfect and stop for them no matter how fast they are walking.

[xenaros]

My sister also failed her test for not stopping at a zebra (pedestrian) crossing as they were walking towards it and not obviously wanting to stop or waiting.

It is stupid that in a test you are expected to stop at a crossing and wait to see if the pedestrian on the pavement is going to cross or keep walking. Zebra crossings are dangerous in the UK, people walk into them without even looking because they think they have absolute priority where in reality they should still be checking the cars have actually noticed them and slowed/stopped. Unless someone is actually facing the road then they are not signalling that they want to cross, so I drive through.

I also failed my first driving test for using the merge lane for exactly what it was intended for (ease traffic impact). He also said I would have failed anyway for going the wrong way when he said to go "towards Burton" which was my home town and 6 miles down the road, there were no signs stating Burton anywhere so I asked him which route and he said "towards Burton" again (obviously I was meant to follow a sign, but there wasn't any), so I went the most direct route I knew, wrong! Twat.

Also failed my first CBT (day course to ride a moped in UK) because my radio earpiece stopped working and the instructor went out of sight in an area I had no knowledge of. I found my way back to the test center eventually and waited for them, but when he arrived he was fuming and failed me for disobeying instructions. On my 'retest' he also failed a lad because the motorcycle they lent him broke down in the middle of a junction, and he had to push it across traffic lanes to get out of harms way.

My mate failed his car test because a transit van overtook him around some speed bumps because my mate was driving too slow over the bumps apparently, in a school zone (20mph limit).

Also, if someone hits you on your test, you fail by default, even if you are parked, how stupid is that?

Speaking from the UK.

[Shakadam]

I guess it depends a bit on country and what kind of driving examinator you get, but the general rule as far as I am aware is:
1. Pedestrian on crosswalk coming towards your lane - always stop, doesn't matter how far away on the crosswalk the pedestrian is. If the pedestrian has already passed your lane feel free to go, as you can't hit him anymore then.
2. Pedestrian on sidewalk but looking like he's going to cross - stop. When you've got your license you can ignore this "rule" if you want, but when taking your exam you should follow it.
3. Pedestrian just hanging around on the sidewalk near the crosswalk but with no clear intention to cross - ignore.

As I mentioned though, the mood and personality of your driving examinator matter alot. When I took my license several years ago I had a really "laid back" examinator, he was basically just talking about all kinds of things with me during the exam. I remember at one point I got to a crossroad with 4 roads going in different directions, and there was one car arriving from each of the roads at the exact same time as I did. Everyone just stopped (you know how confusing it gets when no-one has a clear "who goes first" sign), and I was like "Weeeellll.... I'll just go first then".
The examinator pretty much passed me on that alone, because he was impressed that I took initiative to resolve a situation as fast as possible.

[Deleted]

Helo guys, earlier this week I tried to pass my driving test. And I failed it. However I can't really agree 100% with the reason the guy gave me...

So the exam started and this guy said the usual official stuff such as "yeah you keep yourself on the speed limits, if you happen to come into a situation you handle it yourself and I will tell you in time where to go." then we started driving and everything went very good, I drove a little bit slower then the limits because it was a rainy day. And yeah you know the usual played stuff on an exam.
But during the test there was a pedestrian who wanted to cross the road where cars have to stop for them but the pedestrian was still miles away and I thought I had time enough to pass it before the pedestrian would reach my position.

Then when the exam was done the guy said "yeah you're not passed, you should have stopped for the pedestrian and therefore I cannot give you your license.
Ofcourse at that time I didn't wanted to make any troubles and I thanked him for his time to drive with me and stuff, always be polite to those people and stuff...

Though I don't really agree with his decision because such things happen every 5 minutes on the road and no one gives a real shit about pedestrians who try to cross a bussy road. And if all the other stuff on the exam was good, why would he let me fail for such a minority? What do you think, is the examinator right to not give me my license or should he have forgotten about it and still give it to me.

Please answer constructively, I'm not gonna nerdrage or go into a fight if you think he was right. I already accepted the failure and I will just go again in a few weeks but still. I keep getting upset about the one damn pedestrian.

it depends on how far away he was really and how clear it was that he was going to cross the road and if it was clear he was going to cross the road you should have slowed down and let him know its safe to walk by. I can say tough it must suck and i would be upset to if some random idiot pedestrian failed my driving test like that but at same time you took a stupid risk with that move and ended up paying for it. I wish you luck on next go just drive like a complete pussy and they will pass you worked for me.

[Deleted]

I know the feeling, its really annoying but nothing you can do about it. The driving examiners have a set of criteria they must meet before passing you.

When i was doing my driving tests (yes i didnt pass first time) I failed 1 because a guy cut me up on the roundabout. Technically I did nothing wrong and if it wasnt for that guy i would have passed. But because that situation occurred, despite the fact i avoided a collision he had to fail me.

[Pandamoneum]

no one gives a real shit about pedestrians who try to cross a bussy road

This might be a reason why you don't have your driver's license right now. If you can't respect others on the road, you are going to kill one of them.

[Deleted]

When i did my driving examn i saw the funniest thing ever:

There was a girl also trying to pass her examn. She was driving in the street in front of the centrum. Two cyclists came from the opposite direction, driving in the middle of the road. They were still a bit off, and surely they would have gone to the side once the car was closer, but the girl just panicked. She just pulled the wheel, driving the driving school car right into a truck that was parked on the side of the road. Funniest thing ever. She didnt pass. I hope she still hasn't passed tbh.

[Falrinn]

I know the feeling, its really annoying but nothing you can do about it. The driving examiners have a set of criteria they must meet before passing you.

When i was doing my driving tests (yes i didnt pass first time) I failed 1 because a guy cut me up on the roundabout. Technically I did nothing wrong and if it wasnt for that guy i would have passed. But because that situation occurred, despite the fact i avoided a collision he had to fail me.

You aren't the first person I've heard with a similar story.

Which is odd, because avoiding an accident trumps all driving regulations from a legal perspective. You would think that any measure taken to evade an accident could not cause you to fail a driving test, but in most places that just doesn't seem to be the case.