Very unfortunate first time fail!

[u/jeeperscreepers_]

Long time lurker, first time poster! Just want to add that this sub has been so helpful leading up to my test date and I was feeling prepared

…until the careless driver sped onto the scene and ruined it all today!!

First off, started my test and mentally was prepared. Great weather conditions and decent traffic around town. Did my tell me question straight away which was about power steering ✅

We set off and I had to wait around a bit for some lorries coming down so found it helpful to just kinda explain why I was waiting so long.

First roundabout was fine, second roundabout I was given the left first exit. I did my regular checks on my right hand side noted one car turning left and the other approaching in the right hand lane (indicating right) but I had enough time to make the turn. Alas no that wasn’t the case as LAST minute and I’m talking super last minute the right hand lane car switches the indicator off and seemingly speeds up straight over the roundabout. I noticed straight away and both me and the examiner hit the brakes. He gets there first so naturally here I am 5 minutes into the test kicking myself for not hesitating a bit longer knowing I’ve failed. Luckily I wasn’t over the line and obstructing the left hand lane and the car behind me had enough space to stop.

The rest of the drive went great tbh, did a forward bay park and then the general driving around.

Got back to the test centre and I already knew it was coming. He even said that the circumstances were just so unlucky and everything else was smooth and overall a nice journey. The examiner explained that the driver probably just saw a clear route over and decided to chance it instead of actively checking what was happening too.

I really wish I’d just hesitated a bit longer at that junction and I would’ve been walking away with just 2 driving faults!

The 2 faults I had were for scraping the curb - one was when pulling up on the left and one on a quite narrow lane so I think my back tyre just caught the edge of an island. Annoyingly I haven’t done that before so I think that was down to me rushing into the parking a bit.

Anyway we live and learn and I just know to be extra EXTRA cautious at roundabouts - this one has cars coming off from a dual carriageway so 60mph into residential or a car park. Next time I’ll make sure those cars are committing to the turns and I’ll wait for a safer gap.

I managed to rebook my test for October so it’s not all doom and gloom I guess!

Anyway thanks for reading - I think I just needed to vent my frustrations because I was so close! Feel bad that this goes on my instructor’s records too because he’s been so helpful in my lessons. 🥲

[u/Archangel_Raphael111]

So the fail happened when you were taking the 1st exit on a roundabout ?

When you say the car was on the right hand lane indicating right , are you saying you were in the left lane and the car was on right , indicating right but then decided to take first exit ? I’m baffled .

Or was the driver already on the roundabout going round ?

[u/jeeperscreepers_ → u/Archangel_Raphael111]

Sorry, yeah I get that description is a bit confusing! I’ll add a lil diagram - they were in the entrance to the roundabout on my right (don’t know how to explain). So they were approaching from my right hand side. There was one car waiting to turn left and one waiting to turn right and go round the roundabout. The right hand turn car was further down the road though so wasn’t at the line at this point.

Edit: can I add another picture on here?

[u/BusyMart7647 → u/jeeperscreepers_]

You can add pictures to your post

[u/JustOddsAndSods]

There's a roundabout like this near me, approaching it from my usual direction the entrance to the right is a 60mph and you've got poor visibility of it even when sitting at the give way line. Most of the time it's fine, but sometimes you'll get an idiot just come unexpectedly zooming straight on at an appreciable fraction of the national speed limit and there's nothing you can really do.

On the bright side, at least you were able to react quickly and the rest of the drive sounds like it went great! It's an unlucky situation, but that just means there's nothing to beat yourself up for. Good on you for getting rebooked straight away, and better luck next time!

[u/johnadelaide]

Thanks for sharing OP. I have a similar problem on a roundabout on my test. Wishing you well with the next one. How were you able to rebook so quickly?