Driving exam (last time hopefully) question

[VerticalDiscussions]

Hey guys thanks a lot for the help and tips :p.

[VerticalDiscussions]

9 hours ago, Savageiste said:

-snip-

Thanks for the mental complexity warnings, which are always very welcome too! Today i had my last 2 lessons to account as for a real exam and they honestly went pretty well. Aside from the "Did you notice how far you were from the pillar while going up in reverse (mirror check failed there), two times accelerating while changing gear, a little bit more attention and perception of the space while doing the reverse again on a quite steep area and some other instances of stopping on a sidewalk that didnt exist anymore but was delined on the ground with another behind it (too careful there ehe) and changing into 2nd gear with a woman nearby and a few other "minor" issues, i kept cool and the instructor said i was little bit too careful most of the time (checking dead spots and mirrors too much and well sometimes getting off the line, luckly not continuous). He said that if i stayed calm and focus on safety 1st, the test will go like a breeze. Im pretty happy now that it turned out well ^^. Lets hope tomorrow even better, altough i still have an extra class tomorrow before it, to correct some mistakes i suppose. Cant wait!

[as96]

A tip I was given at the time was not going over 3rd gear during the exam so I would reduce the risk of going over the speed limits. But that really applies only if you have the exam in the city and the speed limits are low.

 

When you watch in the rear mirrors actually move the head not just the eyes, even though you know that you looked the mirror the guy watching you probably doesn't so make it obvious.

 

Practice parking a lot.

 

And the most important thing is: stay calm.

[dalekphalm]

11 minutes ago, as96 said:

A tip I was given at the time was not going over 3rd gear during the exam so I would reduce the risk of going over the speed limits. But that really applies only if you have the exam in the city and the speed limits are low.

 

When you watch in the rear mirrors actually move the head not just the eyes, even though you know that you looked the mirror the guy watching you probably doesn't so make it obvious.

 

Practice parking a lot.

 

And the most important thing is: stay calm.

Also keep in mind that what "gear" you should limit yourselves to, entirely depends on your car, what transmission it has, how many gears, etc.

 

Not every car will have gear switches at the same speeds/RPM's. Though I imagine that most 5-gear manuals, for example, are fairly similar. Just keep in mind that that "rule of thumb" is by no means universal.

[as96]

2 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Also keep in mind that what "gear" you should limit yourselves to, entirely depends on your car, what transmission it has, how many gears, etc.

 

Not every car will have gear switches at the same speeds/RPM's. Though I imagine that most 5-gear manuals, for example, are fairly similar. Just keep in mind that that "rule of thumb" is by no means universal.

Yes that's true

[VerticalDiscussions]

46 minutes ago, as96 said:

-snip-

Yeah i never go over 3rd gear on main roads, 2nd gear on crowded city areas or 1st if the situation demands for. On the freeway, always 4th, since they dont usually ask for 5th (if they do then ill take the necessary precautions and change to accordingly). Ive been practicing parking a lot with my father, its just that parallel parking is quite tricky when the space is not open enough and has a jeep on the front and back :p. Luckly im using a small Toyota Yaris, gotta say tough, pretty strong car... for its size that is.

[dalekphalm]

Just now, VerticalDiscussions said:

Yeah i never go over 3rd gear on main roads, 2nd gear on crowded city areas or 1st if the situation demands for. On the freeway, always 4th, since they dont usually ask for 5th (if they do then ill take the necessary precautions and change to accordingly). Ive been practicing parking a lot with my father, its just that parallel parking is quite tricky when the space is not open enough and has a jeep on the front and back :p. Luckly im using a small Toyota Yaris, gotta say tough, pretty strong car... for its size that is.

Just out of curiosity, what RPM does your car sit at while driving on the highway in 4th gear? What speed are you driving?

 

I'm always in 6th gear in my car (6-spd auto transmission w/ "manual" mode) when on the highway.

[VerticalDiscussions]

18 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

-snip-

Around 2000-2300 RPM at 65-70Km/h. I like to let it go so to speak, controlling it with the brakes since its already pretty fast.

[dalekphalm]

11 minutes ago, VerticalDiscussions said:

Around 2000-2300 RPM at 65-70Km/h. I like to let it go so to speak, controlling it with the brakes since its already pretty fast.

That seems pretty slow for highway speeds. 60Km/h is city speeds here in Ontario, w/ 70Km/h being "boulevard" type road speeds (Basically, large in-city major roads that are just designed to get you from point A to point B with major intersections and here and there).

 

Actual highways start at 80Km/h, and often go up to 100Km/h (Though as far as I'm aware, no roads in Ontario have a limit higher than 100Km/h).

[VerticalDiscussions]

2 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

-snip-

Really? Max speed limit where i live (island) is of no more than 100Km/h, where on the mainland its 120Km/h. Minimum freeway speed is 60Km/h and more often than wanted, max is 80Km/h. I try to stay a few Km/h below the speed limit to avoid problems, especially since its near an airport exits and entrances.

[dalekphalm]

38 minutes ago, VerticalDiscussions said:

Really? Max speed limit where i live (island) is of no more than 100Km/h, where on the mainland its 120Km/h. Minimum freeway speed is 60Km/h and more often than wanted, max is 80Km/h. I try to stay a few Km/h below the speed limit to avoid problems, especially since its near an airport exits and entrances.

Interesting differences

 

Here, Freeway's are pretty much exclusively 100Km/h. Very few freeways drop below 100Km/h speed limit.

 

Some provinces in Canada have a specific minimum speed you're expected to drive on any given road, but Ontario is one not of them. There is a clearly visible maximum speed limit, but no minimum. Of course, the wording of the law implies a minimum, since you can get a ticket for holding up traffic and driving unnecessarily slow.

 

Most people in Canada seem to speed though - the rule of thumb is speed limit + 10Km/h. So if you're driving on a 50Km/h road, people will drive 60Km/h. If you're driving on an 80Km/h highway, people will drive 90Km/h. The major exception to this are the Freeway roads, in which people will often drive much faster. Take the main Freeway in Ontario - Highway 401. This has a speed limit of 100Km/h (for most of it, anyway, there are a few drops in places). People pretty much drive 120Km/h average, with many drivers doing 130 or 140Km/h.

 

If you're going 10Km/h over the limit, there's essentially no risk of getting a ticket, unless you're driving through an active construction work zone (w/ workers present), or a school zone. On most freeways, you can drive 120Km/h without fear of getting a ticket either.

[Canada EH]

Nope, from my observations people do not go head first in with 1.5+ car lenghs.

 

[79wjd]

Meanwhile, in NJ, our driving test is in a parking lot. If you can make a simple left and right turn on an empty course, parallel park, make k-turn, and reverse 100 feet in a straight line you pass.

 

And I REALLY wish I was exaggerating, but I'm not. (it really explains why NJ has some of the shittiest drivers)

 

The driving course: (the red path is the course, the right 60% if the DMV/parking lot for the DMV)

[Zodiark1593]

13 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Also keep in mind that what "gear" you should limit yourselves to, entirely depends on your car, what transmission it has, how many gears, etc.

 

Not every car will have gear switches at the same speeds/RPM's. Though I imagine that most 5-gear manuals, for example, are fairly similar. Just keep in mind that that "rule of thumb" is by no means universal.

This is why an examiner should have no say in choosing your gears. Cars shift at different points and make torque at different points as well. One car may pull 2nd gear easily up a steep hill, lesser equipped cars may need to drop to 1st.

 

 

I've had a couple people I passed on the back roads get notably upset, try to tailgate me, high beams, etc. However, that person is just another vehicle in my eyes. It would seem that not acknowledging such a person causes them to become more irate though. 

[Canada EH]

You just gotta learn how to deal with certain type of people.

You judge by the vehicle they are driving, and their driving style and their actions (one finger salute, brake checks, swerve's, trying to get ahead of you, etc etc etc.) in due course you adjust, do you give in to their demands, or do you gear down, brake or stop.

 

That course looks interesting, a few mini round-abouts is always good. I hate to see inexperienced drivers do the deer in headlights routine when they come to a round about in North America. I have only seen one European style round-about (large diameter) that is two lanes in Canada, but its out in the country (kinda). We got the ones like the one in the map in neighborhoods.

 

I would suggest look left and right, then proceed from a stop sign.

Too commonly pedestrians and cyclists die from stupid people driving in that situation.

[dalekphalm]

14 hours ago, djdwosk97 said:

Meanwhile, in NJ, our driving test is in a parking lot. If you can make a simple left and right turn on an empty course, parallel park, make k-turn, and reverse 100 feet in a straight line you pass.

 

And I REALLY wish I was exaggerating, but I'm not. (it really explains why NJ has some of the shittiest drivers)

 

The driving course: (the red path is the course, the right 60% if the DMV/parking lot for the DMV)

-snip-

That does look very easy. What is a "K" turn? Is that what you call a "3-point" turn? I've never heard the term before.

13 hours ago, Zodiark1593 said:

This is why an examiner should have no say in choosing your gears. Cars shift at different points and make torque at different points as well. One car may pull 2nd gear easily up a steep hill, lesser equipped cars may need to drop to 1st.

 

 

I've had a couple people I passed on the back roads get notably upset, try to tailgate me, high beams, etc. However, that person is just another vehicle in my eyes. It would seem that not acknowledging such a person causes them to become more irate though. 

I agree completely. But fortunately (or unfortunately, if you're a gear-head), I drive Automatic. I always have, and I always will. Computers are getting to the point where they're much better and more efficient about shifting gears and knowing when to shift, compared to the "average" stick shift driver. And most Automatic cars have a "manual" mode anyway for those who really enjoy manually switching gears (just no clutch to have to deal with).

 

I may eventually get a - and learn - stick shift manual, but it will be a "weekend fun car" only. Hells no am I dealing with manual transmission during stop-and-go city traffic - fuck that.

13 hours ago, Canada EH said:

You just gotta learn how to deal with certain type of people.

You judge by the vehicle they are driving, and their driving style and their actions (one finger salute, brake checks, swerve's, trying to get ahead of you, etc etc etc.) in due course you adjust, do you give in to their demands, or do you gear down, brake or stop.

 

That course looks interesting, a few mini round-abouts is always good. I hate to see inexperienced drivers do the deer in headlights routine when they come to a round about in North America. I have only seen one European style round-about that is two lanes in Canada, but its out in the country (kinda). We go min ones like the one in the map in neighborhoods.

 

I would suggest look left and right, then proceed from a stop sign.

Too commonly pedestrians and cyclists die from stupid people driving in that situation.

I'm not sure what part of Canada you live in, but Ontario is having a "Roundabout revolution" right now. In the past 5 years, many of the big cities have been going nuts with them. In the Waterloo Region cities (3 main cities), there are multiple 2-lane Roundabouts, probably a half dozen at least, with there being well over a dozen single lane roundabouts. There are even a few 3-lane ones, but the third outside lane is always right-turns only, so those lanes don't allow you to go the entire way around the roundabout.

 

With that in mind, yes, most people don't know how to drive them at all. You occasionally get the idiot who won't stay in his lane, or who will change lanes WHILE EXITING, WHILE I'M IN THE GODDAMN LANE YOU'RE CHANGING INTO! Most often it's simply the driver having no idea when to signal, with most drivers not signaling at all.

 

It's not rocket science people. If you forget every other rule, just remember this: Right-hand Signal your exit.

 

BTW @Canada EH those aren't roundabouts - you can tell because there are two stop signs per "circle", that he's marked with a white dot. You probably could use them as pseudo roundabouts in a test, but I don't think that's what they do, judging by the road paint showing clear "stop" lines.

[VerticalDiscussions]

Im such an idiot guys :(. So ill write down the story here... So right after the examinator got in and i said "Good morning" he said "Good morning" and asked me for the documentation. I handed it over to him and he said "whenever your ready". I was feeling confident and so happy that my father had even taken the day off to celebrate in well, what could have been a cool ride with him :/.

 

So i started backing from the parking spot i was in, with the right indicator light and proper dead spot/mirrors viewing and then turned my vehicle front to the exit zone. Right after he said "Go left", i went straight to the left lane, which just so happens to have maybe 6-8% inclination before entering the main road and a stop sign on the right lane... and this was a bidirection road with a poorly hidden continuous line separating the exit on the right with the entrace on the left!

I realized my mistake and i wanted to go back to fix it so that i wouldnt just be screwd 15 seconds after the test begun, so i allowed the car to slide backwards and then stopped to return to the proper side and there was this guy coming by my side saying "Its gonna hit, Its gonna hit!", and i was like "Wtf is he talking about?". Turns out i backed up a little too much and didnt check the central mirror for a vehicle behind me and i almost touched a parked one.

Yeahh, the guy told me that "What if there was a vehicle entering the park?", "Why didnt you check the central mirror before letting the car go backwards?" and "You realize you almost hit a vehicle behind you?"...

 

He didnt say the exam was over, nor did he say i shouldnt continue, so i simply got back into the right lane and proceeded with the exam. I stopped before the stop line and he commented again a little bit about that extremely serious mistake as it would turn out, before getting into the road that was heading into the central area of the city behind the airport. I went on, with moderate speed, on 3rd gear and avoiding holes on the road and checking as many as possible danger zones for incoming distracted drivers or pedestrians on the respective sidewalks or even middle of the road. Then he said turn right onto the freeway, so i did and from there the test went like a breeze. I followed all necessary precautions when entering and exiting the freeway and used 4th gear at around 65-70Km/h, and then turned right again. I was about to enter my 1st roundabout and slowed down enough because there were some children (including a baby with her mother) and several cars parked to the right, altough they shouldnt even be there! I went to the left from the roundabout and then entered a tunnel (i always turned on and off the lights according to the signs everywhere). Then another roundabout and entered the main city roads, once again following as many precautions as possible and well even more because of the location. I literally stopped sometimes before the sidewalks, altough there were no people passing them, but when i saw some near it i simply stopped, which just shows how safe i was trying to be. Then after doing pretty much everything i can remenber correctly, he told me to go back onto the park where we left and then bam, "A mother******* fail". On his notebook there were 4 exams before me, all with a capital "A". I knew when he started writting on it that i was doomed... also because of past exams "experience" of the end. He told me that besides holding the driving wheel like a potato sack, if i did not do those 2 mistakes on the beginning (perhaps and in what seemed like a really slim chance, he could have allowed me to pass if i looked at the mirror after going to the left lane and then properly backing up slower with the eyes on the car behind me). I asked him if didnt effectively used a safe driving style and he told me that he didnt see anything negative of how i proceeded and that i was actually doing pretty good and sometimes even too careful. Well fk, i lost 30 seconds after the beginning and he left me in the false belief that i still had a chance. His comment after some conversation was "Perhaps you should get a driving license in Venezuela..."

 

Rip my life x-x and my parents happiness. If im to re-apply, its 262€ which will officially make my driving journey over 1000€. 

 

My parents cant understand how badly im feeling, so much that my heart is broken and i lost all faith on Christianity (Holy water, blessings and prayers/candles and false gods) never helped me so ill just forget about those!

[79wjd]

@dalekphalm yeah, a k-turn is a 3-point turn. And it's even easier than that -- you don't even have to parallel park on your first attempt. As long as you don't put the car in park (or hit a cone -- and the cones are like 50 feet apart) you can try again as many times as you want. You basically have to be a moron to fail the driving test in NJ (and yet, I know quite a few people who took several shots at it). 

[Canada EH]

I am in Alberta, there is one REAL roundabout in McKenzie Town in Calgary and its only 2 lanes. No one knows how to use it properly. Commonly people hesitate and just stop when there is plenty of room. Even on Through-Lane merges, a high percentage of people just stop.

 

Mini roundabouts in high class neighborhoods, used only to slow people down rather then 40kph speed bumps (which are useless because there is a middle part that is flush with the road, so experienced drivers put one wheel in that, and there is a slight bump from the other wheel), Home Depot at Chinook is using double or triple back-to-back speed bumps to slow people down.

 

I think that driving test range, those circles are used for round-about testing, I have not been to Portugal, but Europe does have lots of round-abouts if I am not mistaken. Though in my travels I only used BritRail and EuroRail, and city buses.

The thing that test field is lacking is a large 3 or 4 lane round-about. That is getting into a very technical testing, beyond the scope of the driving test facility.

[dalekphalm]

1 hour ago, VerticalDiscussions said:

Im such an idiot guys :(. So ill write down the story here... So right after the examinator got in and i said "Good morning" he said "Good morning" and asked me for the documentation. I handed it over to him and he said "whenever your ready". I was feeling confident and so happy that my father had even taken the day off to celebrate in well, what could have been a cool ride with him :/.

 

So i started backing from the parking spot i was in, with the right indicator light and proper dead spot/mirrors viewing and then turned my vehicle front to the exit zone. Right after he said "Go left", i went straight to the left lane, which just so happens to have maybe 6-8% inclination before entering the main road and a stop sign on the right lane... and this was a bidirection road with a poorly hidden continuous line separating the exit on the right with the entrace on the left!

I realized my mistake and i wanted to go back to fix it so that i wouldnt just be screwd 15 seconds after the test begun, so i allowed the car to slide backwards and then stopped to return to the proper side and there was this guy coming by my side saying "Its gonna hit, Its gonna hit!", and i was like "Wtf is he talking about?". Turns out i backed up a little too much and didnt check the central mirror for a vehicle behind me and i almost touched a parked one.

Yeahh, the guy told me that "What if there was a vehicle entering the park?", "Why didnt you check the central mirror before letting the car go backwards?" and "You realize you almost hit a vehicle behind you?"...

 

He didnt say the exam was over, nor did he say i shouldnt continue, so i simply got back into the right lane and proceeded with the exam. I stopped before the stop line and he commented again a little bit about that extremely serious mistake as it would turn out, before getting into the road that was heading into the central area of the city behind the airport. I went on, with moderate speed, on 3rd gear and avoiding holes on the road and checking as many as possible danger zones for incoming distracted drivers or pedestrians on the respective sidewalks or even middle of the road. Then he said turn right onto the freeway, so i did and from there the test went like a breeze. I followed all necessary precautions when entering and exiting the freeway and used 4th gear at around 65-70Km/h, and then turned right again. I was about to enter my 1st roundabout and slowed down enough because there were some children (including a baby with her mother) and several cars parked to the right, altough they shouldnt even be there! I went to the left from the roundabout and then entered a tunnel (i always turned on and off the lights according to the signs everywhere). Then another roundabout and entered the main city roads, once again following as many precautions as possible and well even more because of the location. I literally stopped sometimes before the sidewalks, altough there were no people passing them, but when i saw some near it i simply stopped, which just shows how safe i was trying to be. Then after doing pretty much everything i can remenber correctly, he told me to go back onto the park where we left and then bam, "A mother******* fail". On his notebook there were 4 exams before me, all with a capital "A". I knew when he started writting on it that i was doomed... also because of past exams "experience" of the end. He told me that besides holding the driving wheel like a potato sack, if i did not do those 2 mistakes on the beginning (perhaps and in what seemed like a really slim chance, he could have allowed me to pass if i looked at the mirror after going to the left lane and then properly backing up slower with the eyes on the car behind me). I asked him if didnt effectively used a safe driving style and he told me that he didnt see anything negative of how i proceeded and that i was actually doing pretty good and sometimes even too careful. Well fk, i lost 30 seconds after the beginning and he left me in the false belief that i still had a chance. His comment after some conversation was "Perhaps you should get a driving license in Venezuela..."

 

Rip my life x-x and my parents happiness. If im to re-apply, its 262€ which will officially make my driving journey over 1000€. 

 

My parents cant understand how badly im feeling, so much that my heart is broken and i lost all faith on Christianity (Holy water, blessings and prayers/candles and false gods) never helped me so ill just forget about those!

I sincerely feel bad for you - but you made a mistake, and you paid for it.

 

You will just have to try again. The money? Who cares about the money. In the grand scheme of things, $262 Euro is nothing. Learn from your mistake, and you'll do fine. Also, despite the fact that you couldn't pass, having done the whole exam IS useful, as you can see clearly where you made mistakes, and what you did well. This will help you a lot during your next try at passing, because you'll know that the rest of the exam went very well, so you don't need to change anything super fundamental.

 

Just check your damn rear view mirror

36 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

@dalekphalm yeah, a k-turn is a 3-point turn. And it's even easier than that -- you don't even have to parallel park on your first attempt. As long as you don't put the car in park (or hit a cone -- and the cones are like 50 feet apart) you can try again as many times as you want. You basically have to be a moron to fail the driving test in NJ (and yet, I know quite a few people who took several shots at it). 

Damn son, that's crazy easy.

 

My driving test wasn't exact difficult, but we did drive around the city doing various things. I mostly got perfect, except for one point where I was driving too fast because it was a part of the road that transitioned from 60Km/h to 80Km/h, but no signs were posted, so I thought we had already entered the 80Km/h zone (We were in a parking lot beside the road). But it wasn't enough to even come close to failing.

We also did no roundabout testing, because where I lived at the time, none existed. In fact, I don't believe any existed in all of Ontario at that point in time.

[79wjd]

@dalekphalm roundabouts don't really exist in the US. Americans are too stupid to figure them out. There's one near my house and it confuses the ever-living shit out of half the drivers who deal with it and there are accidents there all the time.

Edited September 1, 2016 by djdwosk97

[VerticalDiscussions]

13 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

-snip-

Well i suppose in the grand scheme of things its really not such a big deal, but unfortunately for my parents the scheme is more of a localized one (monetarily speaking) and id hate to disapoint them again after all theyve done for me :/. Gotta trust my feelings more often, since if i had bad feeling about that parking zone 3 hours before the exam, i should have been more mentally prepared for it. Its amazing how our brain can predict things were gonna do bad and were not aware of them until its done x-x

[dalekphalm]

8 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

@dalekphalm roundabouts don't really exist in the US. Americans are too stupid to figure them out. There's one near my house and it confuses the ever-living shit out of half the drivers who deal with it and there are accidents there all the time.

To be fair, Canada isn't too much better. They are slowly learning it, but when the city first launched the first few roundabouts here, there were accidents CONSTANTLY, including some fucking stupid teenage girl who was glued to her smartphone and stepped out across one of the entrances of the roundabout and then promptly got hit with a city bus. She lived, fortunately, but she sued the city and the bus company - despite it not being their fault. The bus driver did all the right things, and the girl wasn't crossing when the bus approached. But the girl just walked right out in front of the bus.

 

Aside from that, lots of accidents. Lots of drivers not stopping when entering, and cutting off a driver already in the roundabout. Lots of people changing lanes mid-roundabout carelessly or without signaling. The roundabouts in Ontario are NOT designed for lane-changing. You're supposed to choose the correct lane before you enter. Every roundabout has signs at every entrance showing you which lanes go where. It's dead easy to understand, but people struggled.

 

It's gotten a lot better though - especially after the city put out a bunch of instructional content on their website (including a flash animation), a DVD, some pamphlets, etc, which were given away free at the Library and any city buildings.

[dalekphalm]

2 minutes ago, VerticalDiscussions said:

Well i suppose in the grand scheme of things its really not such a big deal, but unfortunately for my parents the scheme is more of a localized one (monetarily speaking) and id hate to disapoint them again after all theyve done for me :/. Gotta trust my feelings more often, since if i had bad feeling about that parking zone 3 hours before the exam, i should have been more mentally prepared for it. Its amazing how our brain can predict things were gonna do bad and were not aware of them until its done x-x

Yep you just learn your mistake and move on. While I nailed all my exams on the first try, I know many friends who had to take the driving tests 2 or even 3 times to pass. Everyone is different. And not all of those friends were even bad drivers. Most of the time, it was being mentally unprepared - they got nervous and just made a lot of mistakes that they normally wouldn't do.

 

Offer to pay for the next exam, or something, if that $262 Euro is a problem. The reward for all the work you and they have done, is to pass the test next time. Don't give up, because if you give up, you'll never win.

[VerticalDiscussions]

1 hour ago, dalekphalm said:

-snip-

Yeah your totally right. Unfortunately, if i tell some people that i only passed 4th time on my exam theyll think im probably a worst driver than ones that passed 1st time or 2nd time, because thats just how people judge someones expertise. It doesnt matter when you pass, what matters is that in the end be it 1st time or 10th time, youve obtained the experience to be a prudent and safe driver ^^. Im happy that i failed for something "insignificant" so to speak, that can be corrected easily. Thanks for the cheer ^^