Driving Lessons Guisborough – Part 8
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Driving lessons Guisborough – Part 8 is the next article in our top ten reasons people fail a driving test. A couple of months ago the DVSA released information on what was causing the majority of test fails. We decided to help explain them to you so you can go on to pass your test near Guisborough first time.
If you have time and want more information on what will be expected of you on test day please read –
Passing The Driving Test – The Essential Guide
Let’s have a look at the third biggest cause of driving test fails around the Middlesbrough Driving Test Centre.
3. Control Steering
When you think about a student ready for test, steering may not be something you would expect them to struggle with.
Steering is one of the first things you learn on your driving lessons and something that you need to do constantly throughout your training. This is why it surprised us a little when it came up on the list.
Crossing Your Arms
We’ve all heard the rule of no arm crossing on the driving test, believe it or not, crossing your arms is not a test fail. It isn’t even a minor fault as long as it doesn’t cause a problem safety-wise. If you’re crossing your arms when steering and the car’s position is perfect on the road, then your style is working great for you.
Why are we taught to not cross our arms and use the pull-push method
The two main reasons the push-pull method of steering is taught are –
- Mainly. If you crash and your arms are crossed in front of the steering wheel the airbag will push your arms into your face. The airbag explodes out on impact at over 200 mph. Not even Mike Tyson can hit you that fast!
- When a lot of steering is required your arms can get tied up in a knot trying to put the turns on and off. A good push-pull method will stop this.
So what causes the fails on a driving test
Steering Faults
Let’s have a look at some of the common faults for steering on UK driving tests.
Pulling up at the side of the road and hitting the curb
You will be asked to pull up at the side of the road about 3 to 4 times on your driving test. The fault usually comes when the candidate steers towards the curb bumping into it. A little graze or scuff may get you a minor fault or may not get a fault at all. If you bang into it or end up on the curb you will probably be looking at a fail.
Parked Cars
This one is a little confusing at first. Usually getting too close to parked cars would be marked in clearance. The steering fault would be marked if the examiner felt you left the steering too late. It could also be marked for cutting back in after the parked car too soon. As with most faults, it depends on how severe this was as to whether it would fail you or just be a minor.
Swans Necking
The swans necking fault is a classic steering fault that many learner drivers do on lessons. It’s not steering soon enough, usually on a right turn major road to minor road. You almost pass the junction before steering back on yourself at the last minute to make the turn. Quite often the car would mount the left curb edge as the car enters the junction.
On driving lessons, you will learn ways to help prevent this.
Oversteering Or Understeering
A driver may misjudge what speed they need to get around a corner safely. This then makes steering around and keeping their position almost impossible. Under steering – not enough steering or oversteering too much steering. Again depending on how serious it was could either fail you or just pick you up a minor fault.
Driving Lessons Guisborough – Part 8
Being able to steer your vehicle safely is something that can be taken for granted. You do it every lesson and you would think by the time your test came you would be a master. Quite often it’s a miss-judgment e.g. distance from curb or parked car that causes the steering fault.
Looking ahead and anticipating early on can help a lot. Working out reference points on lessons can really help too when parking or judging when to steer into the junction.
If you have any driving test stories or any driving-related questions please fill in our comments box below and a friendly instructor will get back to you.
