Briane

"beefeater" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > "Paul Robson" wrote in
    > message news:[email protected]...
    > > [email protected] wrote:
    > >
    > > >
    > > > "It's humiliating," says Justine Griffiths, a sculptor from California
    > > > who last year took the test at her Welsh husband's urging. She had
    > > > been driving here illegally for eight years using her U.S. license.
    > > > "I'm 42 years old. I've been driving for 20 years with a clean record,
    > > > and I'm a mother of a nine-year-old. I cried because I failed my
    > > > driving test. I felt like a failure in life."
    > >
    > > And her psychological problems are the fault of the UK driving test
    > > precisely how ?
    > >
    > > I do have a problem with this kind of crap where no-one is allowed to
    > > fail anything, everything must be easy enough so any idiot can pass it,
    > > etc.
    > PADI scuba certification...
    > Has anyone EVER failed??

Ah, but those who took the course actually learned something.

Briane

"Devil's Avacado" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Have a word with David C...he is an expert in pointless litigation :-)

    :-)

B.

Frank Matthews

nightjar wrote:
    > wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...

    >>LONDON -- When John Plott, who lives near Glasgow, recently passed his
    >>British driving test, he didn't say a word to the examiner, not even
    >>thanks. "Basically I wanted to get out of the motor car before he
    >>changed his mind," he says.

    >>It's easy to understand why. Mr. Plott had failed the test 15 times
    >>before.

    > A good reason to impose a maximum limit on the number of times you can sit
    > the test. Anyone who takes that many tries to achieve the low level of
    > skills needed to pass the test will probably never be a safe driver.

    >>It also calls for such
    >>maneuvers as driving backwards around a corner and up the street along
    >>the curb. Touch the curb with the wheel and you flunk.

    > Those are very basic vehicle handling skills.

Yes, it's amazing how often I've found it necessary to back around a
corner. Wait a minute. Surely it's happened at least once in the last
40 years. Well I guess not. But it's still a really basic skill.
Perhaps everyone should have to do it while towing a trailer.

Frank Matthews

    >You don't even have to be able
    > to park in a restricted space. While that was fine when I took my test -
    > there were not many places outside the very centre of London where you could
    > not just draw up to the kerb - it is a necessary skill in most places these
    > days.
    >
    >
    >>Most test-takers don't cut it. Britain's pass rate is under 44% and
    >>falling. That makes driving tests in places such as New York, where
    >>61% of drivers pass, seem a relative breeze.
    >
    >
    > This is a typically meaninigless use of statistics. The difference between
    > the pass rates in Britain and those in New York might be a measure of the
    > relative toughness of the tests, but it could also be that New Yorkers don't
    > take a test until they are much better prepared than the average Briton. One
    > thing not mentioned is the relatively high number of UK tests where the
    > examiner has to take action to prevent an accident.
    >
    > ....
    >
    >>So the agency has decided to make getting a driver's license even
    >>tougher. In addition to a 35-question computerized exam on driving
    >>regulations and a 40-minute "practical" road test conducted in
    >>traffic, starting Nov. 14 applicants also will have to survive a
    >>video-simulation test that measures reaction times to filmed hazards.
    >
    >
    > Sounds a lot more scientific than knowing that the examiner will hit the
    > dash with his clipboard as soon as you get up to any speed on a clear road
    > with no traffic behind you.
    >
    > ....
    >
    >>Another big deterrent is the cost. Applicants first must buy a
    >>provisional license for $45, which is required to practice. Since
    >>secondary schools don't offer driver education, most people enroll in
    >>driving schools, and take a dozen or more lessons at about $31 an
    >>hour.
    >
    >
    > If you hope to pass, it should be a lot more - at least one hour per year of
    > age, with a minimum of 20 hours is recommended.
    >
    > ....
    >
    >>How are young people supposed to afford a driver's license?
    >
    >
    > Same way I did when I was 17 - get lots of small jobs to bring in extra
    > money so I could afford the lessons.
    >
    > ...
    >
    >>Why is it safer to take your eye off the road and look into a mirror
    >>before using a turn signal?
    >
    >
    > It would be better to turn into the path of another vehicle you didn't know
    > was there?
    >
    > Colin Bignell
    >
    >

Nate Nagel

[email protected] wrote in message news:...
    > Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain

GOOD! I'm glad someone still has standards. Over here you just
collect cereal box tops or Betty Crocker points and turn them in at
your local DMV.

nate

Bob Builder

"Frank Matthews" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

    > > Those are very basic vehicle handling skills.
    > Yes, it's amazing how often I've found it necessary to back around a
    > corner. Wait a minute. Surely it's happened at least once in the last
    > 40 years. Well I guess not. But it's still a really basic skill.
    > Perhaps everyone should have to do it while towing a trailer.

Strange.
I reverse my car every day.
Normally getting in and out of parking spots.

The manoeuvre requires some skill to avoid damaging
other cars or knocking down pedestrians. The driving
test in the UK requires people to reverse around a corner
so that this necessary skill can be tested.

When I go to an optician to have my eyes tested I read
some letters off a chart on the wall. In real life I never
have cause to do that. Do you think opticians are
wasting their time ?

Bob

Barbara Vaughan

[email protected] wrote:
    >
    > Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain

Can someone explain to me why you're supposed to use your hand brake
instead of your foot brake when stopping at a red light?

Barbara

Tom

R J Carpenter schrieb:
    >
    > I thought I heard that some people from Continental Europe go to the UK to
    > get driving licences because it is easier and cheaper in the UK than in many
    > other European countries.

Correct. You want to try the German driving test. Compulsory minimum
theoretical and practice hours put the cost up to $1500 minimum. Plus if
you fail three times, you have to start again from square one.

Tom

Briane

"Barbara Vaughan" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > [email protected] wrote:
    > >
    > > Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
    > Can someone explain to me why you're supposed to use your hand brake
    > instead of your foot brake when stopping at a red light?
    > Barbara

You mean, you really really can't work that out for yourself?

Just imagine you're on an incline, when you take your foot off the brake you
roll back into the motorist behind.

Now, if you followed the correct procedure as is explained by your
instructor regarding a hill start, then this wouldn't happen.

For the purpose of the driving test can you explain why you have a problem
with the handbrake. Millions of us have manged so far...

Just go with the flow, follow the rules and you'll cruise the test.

B.

nospamplease

Barbara Vaughan writes:

    > [email protected] wrote:
    > >
    > > Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
    >
    > Can someone explain to me why you're supposed to use your hand brake
    > instead of your foot brake when stopping at a red light?

In no particular order:

1. It gives you a chance to relax your hands and feet, instead of
keeping them tense.

2. If your car is hit from behind, the brake stays on and your car is
less likely to hit the one in front; if you're depending solely on
a foot brake, you might panic and move your feet, or they might
slip.

3. The people in the car behind yours aren't dazzled by your brake lights.

--
-- Chris.

Gill107

"Barbara Vaughan" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > [email protected] wrote:
    > >
    > > Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
    > Can someone explain to me why you're supposed to use your hand brake
    > instead of your foot brake when stopping at a red light?
    > Barbara
--------------------------------------
One good reason could be that it would prevent those damned high level brake
lights and some of the mid level brake lights glaring into my eyes!
Probably vies with middle lane hoggers on Mways in my book.

The probable reason though is that with the hand brake on the car is fully
under control instead of only partially with one foot on the brake and the
other on the clutch for a quick getaway. One slip of the foot and you've
shot forward into a hazardous situation.

Gillian

Paul Robson

Barbara Vaughan wrote:

    > [email protected] wrote:
    >>
    >> Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
    >
    > Can someone explain to me why you're supposed to use your hand brake
    > instead of your foot brake when stopping at a red light?

Errr...

James Silverton

"Barbara Vaughan" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > [email protected] wrote:
    > >
    > > Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
    > Can someone explain to me why you're supposed to use your hand brake
    > instead of your foot brake when stopping at a red light?
    > Barbara

It's almost certainly because most people there are using manual
transmissions. Under those conditions, you might need three feet if you did
not use the hand brake :-)


--
James V. Silverton
Potomac, Maryland, USA

Gazz

"Barbara Vaughan" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > [email protected] wrote:
    > >
    > > Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
    > Can someone explain to me why you're supposed to use your hand brake
    > instead of your foot brake when stopping at a red light?

Main reason, you pull up behind someone at the traffic lights, just sit
there with the car in gear, (your foot on the clutch), and the other foot on
the brake... someone comes up behind you and doesn't stop in time, arse ends
you, the jolt knocks your foot firstly off the brake.. allowing your car to
roll into the car in front a lot easier than if the hand brake was applied,
and also knocks your foot off the clutch pedal, allowing your car to power
ram the car in front.. as simple 2 vehicle shunt soon turns into a multi
vehicle shunt,

One other reason.. because most UK cars have manual gear boxes.. so having 3
pedals, and only 2 feet, you need some way of holding the car stationary,
while you release the clutch to biting point, and apply the gas at the same
time, in order to move forwards, (done when the lights go to red and amber
of course
Using the handbrake to control the car while getting the biting point is
handy.. especially on a hill.. hence why we also have to do a hill start as
part of our test.. using the handbrake to hold the car.. and avoid rolling
backwards into the car behind us.

When i took my test.. 8 years ago, i was taught to pull up at lights, apply
handbrake, and put gear box in neutral,
my brother took his test 2 years ago, and was told to apply handbrake, and
leave car in 1st gear (clutch down), in order to make a speedier getaway
when the lights change to green!!, (he was also told it's ok to miss gears
out by revving the balls out of the engine in say second, and then changing
directly to 4th!!!!, he soon stopped that when his first car was a diesel)

I can see the reason for wanting to make a speedy getaway from traffic
lights if your abroad.. where the lights go straight from red to green, but
in the uk (and Germany), the lights go red, (stop), red and amber (get ready
to move off), then green (off you go),

Brent P

In article , nightjar wrote:

    >> Most test-takers don't cut it. Britain's pass rate is under 44% and
    >> falling. That makes driving tests in places such as New York, where
    >> 61% of drivers pass, seem a relative breeze.

    > This is a typically meaninigless use of statistics. The difference between
    > the pass rates in Britain and those in New York might be a measure of the
    > relative toughness of the tests, but it could also be that New Yorkers don't
    > take a test until they are much better prepared than the average Briton. One
    > thing not mentioned is the relatively high number of UK tests where the
    > examiner has to take action to prevent an accident.

While what you say is a flaw in the use, I doubt any US state test
has anywhere close to that difficultly level.

R J Carpenter

"Barbara Vaughan" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > [email protected] wrote:
    > >
    > > Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
    > Can someone explain to me why you're supposed to use your hand brake
    > instead of your foot brake when stopping at a red light?

A number of people have given you the "stopped on a hill, manual
transmission" answer to this question.

Starting on a hill with a manual transmission without using the hand brake
is a skill that should be mastered by any driver of a manual transmission
car. That said, using the hand brake can make the restart easier.

Here in the USA I used to follow the handbrake scheme in the one place where
I frequently have an uphill-start. But my brand-new car discourages me from
this technique. It is a VW and the daytime running lights go off when the
hand brake is applied.

I also find it odd that anyone would recommend leaving a manual transmission
car in gear during a long-duration stop at a traffic light. The chance for
a slipped foot and "crunch" seem too great.