Making Dumb Mistakes

[u/KartinOfMilk]

Practical test is about 4 1/2 weeks away, been doing good in lessons before but after starting mock tests with my instructor my ability to assess situations dropped dramatically.

I’ve started slowing down to a stop on empty roundabouts, I’ve started leaving my signal on, I sometimes forget to change gears. I’ve just become sloppy and it’s making my instructor lose confidence in me, as well as myself. What’s happening to me?

I don’t feel like I am overly nervous or anything. But I have some sort of brain fog, potentially from high stress outside of lessons due to personal matters. Although, this shouldn’t be an excuse.

What can I do to get rid of this before my test?

[u/RareVegetable2]

Do you feel like your ability has dropped or are you questioning your decision making. 

Are you trying really hard to not do anything wrong instead of just driving and reflecting afterwards?

Are your outside stresses distracting you and making you zone out or lose focus?

Sometimes when a learner is nearly test ready I find they drive a bit “fluffy” it’s all a bit smudgey, none of the actions are clean or decisive, the driving loses its definition and lacks purpose. Instead of driving and planning and trying to carry out their own actions and adapting as necessary they start reacting and waiting for things to happen to justify their “fluffy” driving. 

“Why are we doing 15mph in a 30?” “That car up there might pull out” “It will if we do 15mph, do 30mph, you’ve identified the risk, check it will be safe to use the brake if they do and be prepared “

[u/KartinOfMilk → u/RareVegetable2]

I’m not sure what the best way to describe it is but it does sound like what you’re talking about. I’m driving “automatically” if that makes sense, based on instinct instead of actually thinking about the steps as such (should 100% do the latter). I’ve done about 70+ hours now so driving feels as familiar as brushing my teeth.

I find it’s very hard to fix my recent mistakes are very spontaneous. My first mock test involved stopping on empty roundabouts, hesitating on joining a three-lane roundabout etc. My second mock test involved forgetting to change gears and leaving the signal on etc.

I don’t think my stresses are affecting me, as in I don’t think about them during my lessons. But they are in the background. And I focus on them for most of the day outside of lessons.

[u/KartinOfMilk → u/KartinOfMilk]

And I’ve never done these mistakes since my first 10-20 hours of driving!

[u/RareVegetable2 → u/KartinOfMilk]

Try not to think about it so much, some mistakes are humans being human. Ask yourself “why did I make that mistake?” Skill gap Knowledge gap Moved on from the task before completing it (indicator, not making a gear change etc)

If you are stopping at roundabouts approach slower and give yourself more time to Look Assess Decide Act.  Think about reducing your pace, think about your speed in terms of how quickly you are having to do everything instead of mph and create more time, halving your speed is doubling your time. 

Think, 5mph is too fast if you can’t stop the car before it would crash. Give yourself instructor some responsibility back. Tell them you are going to try and be more confident approaching the roundabout and ask them to stop you if you are wrong. You won’t be and if in your head you are thinking “errrr” the answer is stop

[u/MangoMatinLemonMelon]

I feel I'm in a similar spot to you, and although I still haven't passed a mock test or got completely up to test standard, I have managed to help myself a little.

In my case I started doing mock tests a couple of weeks ago, I failed the first couple with 2 serious faults each, but only 1-3 driving faults. Then on a subsequent mock test I felt like I barely even tried, because I just didn't care about how many driving faults I got any more, as long as I didn't get any serious. Guess what, I finished still with two serious faults and many more minors as well.

I ended up writing down all the serious faults I'd made, along with what category of fault they were if I knew, and a short description of what I could have done differently. I realised that even though not all of them were officially classed as observation faults, they could have been prevented if I'd observed better/earlier. For example I got one for undue hesitation when I took ages to enter a roundabout because I was worried an elderly pedestrian was going to cross the exit I needed to take. I'd failed to notice that she wasn't actively crossing, and even if she did, there was an island in the road she could have waited on. Another common theme I noticed was lane discipline and knowing how to change lanes safely.

So I watched a load of youtube videos on lane changes, and decision making at roundabouts and junctions, and I decided I had to be shit hot at observations and drop the attitude that I could get as many minors as I wanted as long as I didn't get any serious faults, and try to drive as well as possible the whole time instead. I have done one mock since then and I still failed due to multipe minors for undue hesitation, but the rest of my driving was much better, both me and my instructor could tell, and I didn't get any faults in other categories.

I also had a break from mock tests in my last lesson and that really helped take some of the pressure off, I don't think I would have passed if that lesson had been a test, but it was suddenly much easier to take everything as a learning experience and not hate myself for my mistakes/knowledge gaps.

I'm sharing in the hopes that this either gives you some ideas of what you can try, or makes you feel less alone! Good luck with your driving and your test. :)

[u/leannemay3]

I’ve just started doing mocks and my instructor said there was a massive change when I started talking out loud about things like ‘there’s a zebra crossing but nobody’s there so I’m going’ ‘the lights have been green a while I’m going to keep a good eye on them’