Any driving instructors about?

[Glitterblue]

Just a quick question about my test which is coming up next week. If you’re in a situation where it’s someone else’s right of way and they’re just not moving, they’re just sitting there apparently completely oblivious to the fact that it’s their right of way - what would the examiner expect you do in the test? I did ask my instructor but she’d never experienced this in a test before and wasn’t 100% sure. Hopefully it won’t happen in the test but it did happen to me while I was practising and it’s made me wonder what I should do if it did happen in the test 🤔

Any thoughts would be much appreciated- thank you in advance!

This is potentially complex, as this sort of thing can happen in a wide range of circumstances but generally you should be able to tackle most in the same way.

The short answer is that after a slight pause on your part to see if they will take their priority, you ask them nicely if you can go first.

How?

You start to move forward at a very slow creep. That's asking the question. Now look for an answer. If they stay still (or perhaps are prompted to give you a sign you can go), you can begin to fully commit to your move.

What the examiner expects is that you drive safely and legally. So you try to give people the priority they should have, but can always take priority carefully if it is offered overtly (e.g. wave, flash) or covertly (they simply leave the space - which may be deliberate on their part or because they are distracted, don't understand etc.).

Yes I am (an ADI).

@WrigglyDonCat thank you so very much for taking the time to explain this. I’m at the stage of thinking over every eventuality that might happen, I’m such an over-thinker! I’m so scared in case nerves get the better of me and I forget something. I just need to try to stay calm and composed and think everything through. I really worry about hesitation at roundabouts because there is one roundabout in our town where people start signalling left on the approach so they look as if they’re taking the first exit but they’re actually taking the second exit - so if you’re coming out of that one, if can look as if it would be safe to go except it’s so often not, and I feel safer waiting until I see what they’re actually planning to do but I’m worried that it would seem like undue hesitation!

Don't worry too much about hesitation and appropriate speed (which usually means being too slow for the road conditions). While these can be faults, it is much easier to get serious faults for being too hasty and gung-ho at junctions. Often if people fail for hesitation it is due to repeated minor faults, so if it's just the one roundabout that causes you big issues that may not be a problem.

The key to this kind of situation is preparation. Very often when learners are not initially sure where a car is going, they do nothing until they are. By then it's often too late, and you've missed the gap.

I emphasise the importance of seeing potential gaps and getting ready. And here's where I hope you've been taught to move away correctly (many ADIs seem to miss the importance of this). By preparation I mean set the gas and find the bite against the handbrake (assuming a manual handbrake here).

Now you watch the approaching car's body language. What is their speed and position telling you? I'd be watching for the earliest sign of deflection to their left showing they're actually taking the first exit - at this point the handbrake comes off and if gas and bite are correct we are moving now at the first possible safe moment. If no deflection and they are coming around, I'm back off the gas and down on the clutch to relax for the next potential opportunity.

What I wouldn't recommend is doing what many experienced drivers seem to like doing at busy roundabouts. That constant little creep to try and jump into gaps. That's a very quick way to getting someone parked in your boot if you change your mind about going.

And in terms of overthinking (a very common problem for learners and very difficult to really tackle except through a lot of practice) - my best advice is just to tell you that in my experience 95+% of the time what a learner decides first is correct. Trust your first instinct - it will almost certainly be correct - it's the subsequent thoughts that will let you down.