Most Common Reasons People Fail Driving Tests

Ah, the dreaded driving tests. Whether you’re a teenager just getting your license or an adult taking a test for renewal purposes or any other extenuating circumstance, you might be a little nervous. We live in a world where driving is so often an everyday part of life, from the morning commute to road trip vacations and just running errands around town or meeting up with friends. We drive pretty much everywhere these days, so when the chance that your license might be taken away from you, or not granted at all, comes up, it’s understandably a little nerve-wracking. If you’re worried, consider spending a little extra time studying and practicing for these things – they are the areas where drivers most commonly get tripped up.

Parallel Parking

If you’ve been driving for any amount of time, you’ve probably noticed that parallel parking isn’t the easiest thing you’ll ever have to do as a driver. Alignment, spatial awareness, and a keen eye for checking those rear view mirrors and blind spots before you go swinging the front end of your vehicle out into a lane that could hold incoming traffic are the keys to success here. Also, spend some time perfecting that moment you need to stop cranking the steering wheel in one direction and start easing it in the other for the A+ worthy parallel parking job of your instructor’s dreams.

Incorrect Use of Signals

Thinking about making that lane change? Better have your blinker on. Same goes for turns. And don’t go using your hazard lights when you need something from your building but don’t feel like finding a viable parking spot so you wind up in the no park zone instead. Incorrectly using your signals, or bad habits built up over time that spill into your testing time won’t do you any good when you’re trying to get your license back. Even if you think you know all the correct ways to use your signals, pre-test is a good time to brush up on that information.

Improper Decision Making at Road Junctions

You’re coming to a stop sign, or a stoplight, or some other junction where you are likely to meet traffic traveling in different directions. There are often a plethora of decisions to be made as you approach such a junction, and you need to know what your plan is well before you arrive at said junction. Often, drivers will fail their test because they didn’t put enough forethought into what their next move was. Or, even worse, once they arrived at the junction, they didn’t obey the traffic laws or made a poor decision that could have dire consequences if exercised in the real world with other drivers outside of the test environment.

Inappropriate Speed

Yeah, you heard that right. We know, we know. “Everyone speeds.” When you’re in a testing environment, paying attention to the speed limits is important, but if you’re used to zooming over those posted limits, you’re not likely to realize you’re doing it in the middle of a test, either. The best way to overcome this is to routinely drive within the speed limits. Those limits are posted for a reason, and you’re not going to win any bonus points with your test administrator for accelerating well beyond them.

It’s easy to get tripped up when it comes to getting tested in order to receive or maintain your driver’s license, but if you study up, drive defensively and with caution, paying attention to your surroundings at all times and the laws of the road, you should have no trouble passing with flying colors. If you’re heading into a test soon, good luck! We hope to see you (safe and sound) on the road soon.