Driving tests "diabolical"?

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#1034419 30-Apr-2014 23:39

ubergeeknz:
TimA:
insane:
blakamin:
TimA: I have been left very furious after 2 failed driving tests due to completely irrational and over the top bull crap.

soooo... tell us the reasons.

Tim thinks it's OK to light up a fag and call his Giganaire friends at the same time, while taking the test.

They failed me, This is my go pro video feed for my test.

I think I see where you went wrong.

You clipped the curb while drifting around that long sweeping left hander.

Otherwise pretty much perfect.

Right, Ill take note for next time.
Here is the second one i failed on. See how i do indicate but the tester is too busy videoing.

jonathan18

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#1034498 1-May-2014 09:01

TimA: Would you be willing if you live in Auckland for a sum of money to come drive with me?
I failed twice. Dont want to sink another $80. Cop asked me the other day why i still had my learners. Explained about one being unfair judgement and another was the tester not paying attention when i actually did indicate, (Already had 1 error so they failed me for a second on not indicating when i did) So Mr. Coppa said have a good day and left..

Had you taken a formal lesson prior to sitting your test(s)? I got my licence not that many years ago (in my mid 30s), and prior to sitting the restricted and full tests got a single lesson with an instructor. I did this on the basis of trying to avoid exactly the situation where you are now. The instrutors know the routes, and know exactly what the tester will be looking for.

The other thing I did was sit my tests in a quieter location with more straight-forward roads and traffic (in PN, whereas I lived in Wgtn at the time), on the assumption it should simplify the test. Seemed to work as I passed without issues both times... What about trying the test in a nearby location like Pukekohe?

tdgeek

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#1034540 1-May-2014 09:26

vexxxboy: cant help you , my test was a 10 minute drive around Henderson in the 70's and that was that. Hardly a stern test.

I got my motorcycle licence when I was 15. "Here you go, a 6 month licence so you can learn" 6 months later got my full. Convenient, but hardly suitable for a 2 wheeler.
Id been driving on our farm since 11. Tractor then, later was the ute and Land Cruiser. Had one paid lesson, then took test and passed. Short test, and did the sweetest parking between two cars ever.

In those days the test was "can you drive a car, hold the wheel correctly, obey the rules in that short test, and don't go over the limit"? It should be as it is now, "can you drive a car safely and with some semblance of base skill and road awareness"

bakewells5856

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#1034554 1-May-2014 09:39

having the tests this picky is just pointless. accedents happen from people driving recklessly or just not paying attention, its not allways about how good the driver is. Its easy enough for someone to go "yep... ill drive the way they want me to just to pass the test, then ill drop back down to my usual poor standards."

A friend told me that he failed the test for not looking in his rear view mirror often enough, then failed the second time for looking his his rear view mirror too often... this sort of thing is just ridiculous.

Coil

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#1034566 1-May-2014 09:54

jonathan18:
TimA: Would you be willing if you live in Auckland for a sum of money to come drive with me?
I failed twice. Dont want to sink another $80. Cop asked me the other day why i still had my learners. Explained about one being unfair judgement and another was the tester not paying attention when i actually did indicate, (Already had 1 error so they failed me for a second on not indicating when i did) So Mr. Coppa said have a good day and left..

Had you taken a formal lesson prior to sitting your test(s)? I got my licence not that many years ago (in my mid 30s), and prior to sitting the restricted and full tests got a single lesson with an instructor. I did this on the basis of trying to avoid exactly the situation where you are now. The instrutors know the routes, and know exactly what the tester will be looking for.

The other thing I did was sit my tests in a quieter location with more straight-forward roads and traffic (in PN, whereas I lived in Wgtn at the time), on the assumption it should simplify the test. Seemed to work as I passed without issues both times... What about trying the test in a nearby location like Pukekohe?

Thats like ages away, I live in Takapuna. The testers were muppets to take me onto an 80 KPH road and right hand turn to go southbound onto it. It was peak hour. We sat there for 5 minutes and had that 1 gap.

toyonut

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#1034607 1-May-2014 10:23

Stink man, just go to Manukau. Had a friend go there many moons ago in a laser with cut springs, 5% tints and a dodgy sub install floating loose in the boot, bounced over the curb and the officer just said "this car is pretty low ay!"
Had my license long enough to have had to renew it now, but I failed once and passed the second time. Made me mad, but not the end of the world. Failed because I had to pull too far forwards at a stop street to see around a fence and down the road and for some other reason lost to the annals of time.
Honestly I am of the mostly unpopular opinion that 15 is too early to be getting a license, it should be 16 just to get a little more maturity under the belt and a bit longer testing period. When I took mine, you could have your learners at 15 and restricted 6 months later and then full by a little over 16. Seen enough young and inexperienced kids die on the roads including some at my school and a few at the illegal drags way back in the day.

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#1034627 1-May-2014 10:41

paulmilbank: Stink man, just go to Manukau. Had a friend go there many moons ago in a laser with cut springs, 5% tints and a dodgy sub install floating loose in the boot, bounced over the curb and the officer just said "this car is pretty low ay!"
Had my license long enough to have had to renew it now, but I failed once and passed the second time. Made me mad, but not the end of the world. Failed because I had to pull too far forwards at a stop street to see around a fence and down the road and for some other reason lost to the annals of time.
Honestly I am of the mostly unpopular opinion that 15 is too early to be getting a license, it should be 16 just to get a little more maturity under the belt and a bit longer testing period. When I took mine, you could have your learners at 15 and restricted 6 months later and then full by a little over 16. Seen enough young and inexperienced kids die on the roads including some at my school and a few at the illegal drags way back in the day.

Uh, it IS 16. Then you can gert your Restricted 18 months later, and your Full 12 months after that.

Interestingly, with the current regime you would be failed by one officer for not pulling too far forward so you can see around a fence and another car, and then failed by a different officer for doing it.

I've been penalised for pulling out into a gap that apparently wasn't large enough, requiring another driver to take evasive action (the evasive action was slowing down to the speed limit because he was going about 15km/h over it), and told I should wait longer for a larger gap, then on a different attempt at the same intersection, penalised for waiting too long and not taking appropriate gaps the same size as the one I was penalised previously for taking. The AA are bloody atrocious.

Coil

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#1034629 1-May-2014 10:42

Kyanar:
paulmilbank: Stink man, just go to Manukau. Had a friend go there many moons ago in a laser with cut springs, 5% tints and a dodgy sub install floating loose in the boot, bounced over the curb and the officer just said "this car is pretty low ay!"
Had my license long enough to have had to renew it now, but I failed once and passed the second time. Made me mad, but not the end of the world. Failed because I had to pull too far forwards at a stop street to see around a fence and down the road and for some other reason lost to the annals of time.
Honestly I am of the mostly unpopular opinion that 15 is too early to be getting a license, it should be 16 just to get a little more maturity under the belt and a bit longer testing period. When I took mine, you could have your learners at 15 and restricted 6 months later and then full by a little over 16. Seen enough young and inexperienced kids die on the roads including some at my school and a few at the illegal drags way back in the day.

Uh, it IS 16. Then you can gert your Restricted 18 months later, and your Full 12 months after that.

Interestingly, with the current regime you would be failed by one officer for not pulling too far forward so you can see around a fence and another car, and then failed by a different officer for doing it.

I've been penalised for pulling out into a gap that apparently wasn't large enough, requiring another driver to take evasive action (the evasive action was slowing down to the speed limit because he was going about 15km/h over it), and told I should wait longer for a larger gap, then on a different attempt at the same intersection, penalised for waiting too long and not taking appropriate gaps the same size as the one I was penalised previously for taking. The AA are bloody atrocious.

Restricted is 6 months after learners and then 18 months after restricted you can get full.

jonathan18

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#1034632 1-May-2014 10:46

TimA:
jonathan18:
TimA: Would you be willing if you live in Auckland for a sum of money to come drive with me?
I failed twice. Dont want to sink another $80. Cop asked me the other day why i still had my learners. Explained about one being unfair judgement and another was the tester not paying attention when i actually did indicate, (Already had 1 error so they failed me for a second on not indicating when i did) So Mr. Coppa said have a good day and left..

Had you taken a formal lesson prior to sitting your test(s)? I got my licence not that many years ago (in my mid 30s), and prior to sitting the restricted and full tests got a single lesson with an instructor. I did this on the basis of trying to avoid exactly the situation where you are now. The instrutors know the routes, and know exactly what the tester will be looking for.

The other thing I did was sit my tests in a quieter location with more straight-forward roads and traffic (in PN, whereas I lived in Wgtn at the time), on the assumption it should simplify the test. Seemed to work as I passed without issues both times... What about trying the test in a nearby location like Pukekohe?

Thats like ages away, I live in Takapuna. The testers were muppets to take me onto an 80 KPH road and right hand turn to go southbound onto it. It was peak hour. We sat there for 5 minutes and had that 1 gap.

That was only an example of a quieter location near Akld as I didn't know where you lived in that massive urban sprall called Auckland - it didn't need to be taken literally as your only option!

Feel free to carry on as you have and somehow expect a different result, or do what's in your control and follow suggestions such as mine that have worked. Sure, there may be things wrong with the system, but railing against it isn't going to improve your chances of passing. As with all such systems you have to learn to work it to your best advantage - and as I've mentioned there are relative easy and affordable ways of doing this. I guess it's how badly you want this over. Personally, I had no issue travelling a decent distance to improve my chances of success.

Coil

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#1034635 1-May-2014 10:49

jonathan18:
TimA:
jonathan18:
TimA: Would you be willing if you live in Auckland for a sum of money to come drive with me?
I failed twice. Dont want to sink another $80. Cop asked me the other day why i still had my learners. Explained about one being unfair judgement and another was the tester not paying attention when i actually did indicate, (Already had 1 error so they failed me for a second on not indicating when i did) So Mr. Coppa said have a good day and left..

Had you taken a formal lesson prior to sitting your test(s)? I got my licence not that many years ago (in my mid 30s), and prior to sitting the restricted and full tests got a single lesson with an instructor. I did this on the basis of trying to avoid exactly the situation where you are now. The instrutors know the routes, and know exactly what the tester will be looking for.

The other thing I did was sit my tests in a quieter location with more straight-forward roads and traffic (in PN, whereas I lived in Wgtn at the time), on the assumption it should simplify the test. Seemed to work as I passed without issues both times... What about trying the test in a nearby location like Pukekohe?

Thats like ages away, I live in Takapuna. The testers were muppets to take me onto an 80 KPH road and right hand turn to go southbound onto it. It was peak hour. We sat there for 5 minutes and had that 1 gap.

That was only an example of a quieter location near Akld as I didn't know where you lived in that massive urban sprall called Auckland - it didn't need to be taken literally as your only option!

Feel free to carry on as you have and somehow expect a different result, or do what's in your control and follow suggestions such as mine that have worked. Sure, there may be things wrong with the system, but railing against it isn't going to improve your chances of passing. As with all such systems you have to learn to work it to your best advantage - and as I've mentioned there are relative easy and affordable ways of doing this. I guess it's how badly you want this over. Personally, I had no issue travelling a decent distance to improve my chances of success.

Fully take on what you said. Might do mine in Whangarei. Dad lives there with a tip tronic Audi? Maybe we can call that a manual? But in terms of propper manual between people i know the only is a 3 rotor Rx2 on 17psi. So that wont go down well with a tester, (Fully certed)

trig42

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#1034639 1-May-2014 10:51

It is 16 now isn't it?

Friend of mine failed his test (experienced driver, redoing license) for stopping too long at a stop sign (he says about 2 seconds, but got tooted from behind - tester said if he hadn't been tooted, he would have passed). Sucks that you can fail because of some other asshat driver being impatient.

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#1034641 1-May-2014 10:52

trig42: It is 16 now isn't it?

Friend of mine failed his test (experienced driver, redoing license) for stopping too long at a stop sign (he says about 2 seconds, but got tooted from behind - tester said if he hadn't been tooted, he would have passed). Sucks that you can fail because of some other asshat driver being impatient.

On my first fail i was tooted at when they coasted up my rear. That failed me. Could speak to SFO for a scam operation.

mikerussellnz

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#1034646 1-May-2014 10:54

On the subject of driving tests, my wife needs to convert her international license to NZ.

This requires her to do both theory and practical tests.

We have contacted AA about it, but they say that she cannot do the theory and practical test on the same day.

They say you need to wait 2 weeks, I can't find any reference anywhere about that.

This is a problem for us because after passing the theory test, she is no longer allowed to drive with here international license and the NZ license has a "supervisor condition" I can't supervise as I don't have a NZ full license for 2 years.

I don't understand why both tests can't be done the same day, or at least the international license remain valid until then.

Anybody have any experience with that?

Kyanar

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#1034647 1-May-2014 10:54

TimA:
Kyanar:

Uh, it IS 16. Then you can gert your Restricted 18 months later, and your Full 12 months after that.

Interestingly, with the current regime you would be failed by one officer for not pulling too far forward so you can see around a fence and another car, and then failed by a different officer for doing it.

I've been penalised for pulling out into a gap that apparently wasn't large enough, requiring another driver to take evasive action (the evasive action was slowing down to the speed limit because he was going about 15km/h over it), and told I should wait longer for a larger gap, then on a different attempt at the same intersection, penalised for waiting too long and not taking appropriate gaps the same size as the one I was penalised previously for taking. The AA are bloody atrocious.

Restricted is 6 months after learners and then 18 months after restricted you can get full.

Ah, fair enough, I stand corrected. (It's significantly different if you're over 25, hard to keep track).

Coil

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#1034652 1-May-2014 10:55

Kyanar:
TimA:
Kyanar:

Uh, it IS 16. Then you can gert your Restricted 18 months later, and your Full 12 months after that.

Interestingly, with the current regime you would be failed by one officer for not pulling too far forward so you can see around a fence and another car, and then failed by a different officer for doing it.

I've been penalised for pulling out into a gap that apparently wasn't large enough, requiring another driver to take evasive action (the evasive action was slowing down to the speed limit because he was going about 15km/h over it), and told I should wait longer for a larger gap, then on a different attempt at the same intersection, penalised for waiting too long and not taking appropriate gaps the same size as the one I was penalised previously for taking. The AA are bloody atrocious.

Restricted is 6 months after learners and then 18 months after restricted you can get full.

Ah, fair enough, I stand corrected. (It's significantly different if you're over 25, hard to keep track).

Over 25 or 21 and you do a defensive driving course and pass its reduced to 12 months??

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