scary test

[Guest]

Hi basically when I did my test last tuesday I had a bit of a shock. I'm trying to get over it still..

I was driving along in the car shortly after starting my test, and after turning left into a road there was a van with a car parked behind it on my side of the road. I waited to see if the car was going to move round the van, the lady instructor said to me, "i think its parked" so i took the hint and drove on.

Next thing I that I remember happening was the lady examiner screaming in a petrified voice "STOP! STOP!" and when i say petrified I mean, she was screaming like we were going to die. It came out of the blue, and I had no idea why she was screaming, I guess I was inside my own head.

Basically I think I was distracted by the driving round the cars in the road, and I had just driven through a junction without looking. It was a fail, obviously and a big mistake on my part. But I don't understand why she screamed like that, and why she didnt just press the dual controls and stop me before I even got into that situation.

There was a car coming towards us from the right. But it braked well in time and was at least 2 metres away before we moved off. Also by the time we had stopped, we were sitting in the middle of the junction. I'm still shook up by the screaming now, it keeps going round my head...

Basically I think it was very unprofessional of her to scream like that. The worst part is, after that, she just put back on the official air of an instructor, like she was in control again. She didn't even say something like "sorry about that, I got a bit scared." or something...

I woudlnt really care if I had just failed, although I didnt expect that I would, as I my instructor believes I have been driving well recently. But the fact that I have this memory of my examiner screaming, petrified, and in shock, it kinda puts me off taking the test again.

I realised that making a complaint is pointless, and an appeal is pointless too. But I would really like her to tell me what exactly happened that made her scream like that... I guess I will never know..

Any comments anyone? Thanks...

[wulf]

Maybe she thought she was about to die - dangerous things, cars!

Wulf

[Admin]

A driving examiner will use the dual controls (if fitted) as a last resort. You Explain a dangerous situation there, maybe she should have used the duel controls and screaming at you like that was very unprofessional. BUT if that had happened when you were driving on your own you would have had no one to scream at you until maybe it was too late… There must be a problem with your awareness as the driving examiner felt she had to point out the park car to you as well. (sorry for the lecture)


After your driving test finished the examiner must write a report on the test, you can request a copy of that report, Then at least you will know what the examiner was thinking.

The behaviour you describe of the examiner is very uncommon so don’t let it put you off taking another test.


Good Luck


Peter