Feel like I’m never going to pass my driving test

[HearMeOutt]

I haven’t actually taken a test yet, but that’s because I can never seem to get to ‘test standard’. It’s like I reached a point and hit a ceiling with it. I’ve had about 70 hours of lessons, and something still isn’t clicking.

The areas I’m really struggling with are:

1. Roundabouts. I fucking hate them! Light controlled, not light controlled, mini, when and whether to indicate when exiting, positioning, sometimes lanes should be crossed and sometimes not.. I always panic and feel like there are 1000 things to remember at once
2. Parking manoeuvres - I can just never get it bloody right. I can’t remember the sequences of events. I always end up outside the lines and feel flustered,
3. Following a route. I feel like I have no ‘mental map’, I can never remember routes and when he says ‘travel to X’ I have no recall as to how to get there. I’m constantly reading signs and getting distracted by them.

Relevant facts: this is my 3rd instructor, I’m doing automatic.

Please help! I’m 33 and it’s so embarrassing. I just feel like something isn’t clicking, my progress has stalled and I’m never ‘sharp’.

I failed 6 times and passed on my 7th, you can do it just never give up. I know someone who took 13 attempts!

I literally YouTube my test routes in the area and watched those and then I got my own car eventually and got someone to sit next to me followed by using it on test days but you aren’t 3 test fails in yet! So don’t stress x

Passed on 8th attempt at 33...
Take 2 paracetamol to keep temp down and a Mars for a glucose hit.
Then I passed!!

Thanks everyone but I think my worry is that I haven’t even taken a test yet because I’m just not there. If I had taken a test and failed at least I would know I was test standard (unless it was a disaster) and you can reflect on what went wrong for next time. The fact is I’m not even test ready as there are several areas I’m finding impossible to master

I thought my instructing day had finished, but always up for another lesson.

Roundabouts:

This is information overload. It affects the best of us at times - just listen to some ATC conversations on youtube where professional pilots are struggling to process information because they are dealing with mechanical failures etc.

What you need is strategies in place to deal with the information flow. You will be trying to think of everything at once and as a result think of nothing.

The most important thing is as soon as you get an instruction, check mirrors and reduce the gas. And this next bit is crucial - you don't need to be able to see the roundabout or understand where you will be going to do this - learners who are struggling with this generally try and wait until they fully understand the scene before they act and you don't have the time to.

You need to be aware of surroundings prior to slowing, but the sooner you begin to slow the better - what will almost certainly be happening is that you are not slowing in time (for your ability to process things) and then you get overloaded. Getting off the gas early is the first step to making the time you need. Don't be afraid to start braking early and gently either - this gives you more time and helps to control the cars behind you.

Parking

Don't think just do my young apprentice...

I get really fed up with instructors who are wedded to using reference points for manoeuvres. They should be a weapon of last resort, a final tool in the toolbox for when all else fails, not the first thing you turn to.

You have eloquently summed up a big chunk of the problem with them - "I can't remember the sequence". Up until about 25 years ago people didn't normally use a sequence of events to reverse - they just reversed. You are spending all your mentally energy trying to remember a recipe rather than learning how to cook.

Where am I? Where do I want to get to? Move slowly and steer - is that doing what I want, not enough, too much? Add more steering, reduce the steering, steer the other way. Rinse and repeat.

Routes

Why are you trying to remember routes? Is it something you've been told to do?

The whole point of independent driving on the test is to follow the satnav or road signs, not to remember a route.

You are already struggling with information overload, don't try and add to it by remembering routes.

If you are following signs, scan for the place you are interested in and if it isn't on the sign, move on. No point wondering why the road you are on goes to Dunny-on-the-Wold if you are supposed to be trying to find Craphouse-on-the-Widdle.

It took me 5 tests to pass, but I finally managed it. My top tips is get your own car & get someone to take you out as much as you can, my dad met me from work every day so I could drive home in the rush hour & also took me out at weekends for a longer drive.

The more I think about how you've written about your driving, the more I realise how much you are talking about remembering intricate details for each specific situation.

So I think it seems like my cooking analogy would work well across the board. It feels like you are trying to remember a thousand different recipes, rather than learning, for example, what the differences are between boiling and roasting and when one is better than the other. Or how to make a basic sauce which you can then adapt as required etc.

The thing with roundabouts for example is that you could learn precisely how to do 1000 roundabouts from every entrance to each available exit from them (and good luck remembering all that), but the next new roundabout you encounter will be different again.

Of course experienced drivers do remember specific details about specific roundabouts they use a lot , but mostly we just have a broad model of a few roundabout types in our heads that we then fit to what we see.

One example from what you wrote would be whether to indicate off a roundabout. The really simple answer is: signal. You always turn left off a roundabout, so a signal once you are past the previous exit will never be incorrect. It may be superfluous, but never incorrect.

Once that is comfortable you can add in some variations:
Is it a mini roundabout? No signal needed (but it won't confuse if you do)
Does my lane only come off at my exit? No signal needed (but it won't confuse if you do)

With those few rules you never have to remember a specific roundabout situation.

Sorry to be negative but maybe it won’t click. 5 failed tests and no improvement made me realise the things that didn’t click for me with driving couldn’t be taught - namely for me it’s the mental side, like processing information, reaction times, spatial awareness and dealing with overwhelm when several things are happening at once. I was actually getting worse the more I tried and ending every lesson with a stress migraine. I hope you do find it clicks for you but it never did for me so I just accepted that trying was making my life worse and gave up. Easy for me as I live in London though.

Getting the right instructor is very important. Do you feel your current instructor is calm and patient and explains things clearly?

Are you getting roundabouts right most of the time, but dwelling on the mistakes you do make? If you're getting them right most of the time, it may simply be that you will get there with practice. Are you just having one lesson a week? If so, could you up the frequency of your lessons?

Thanks all I will have a proper read of responses tomorrow when I’m more awake but just wanted to reply to this one quickly and say yes, I think you’re spot on! I’ve had instructors who are very formulaic and have actually placed stickers around the car as ‘reference points’ - ‘make sure the red sticker is lined up with the kerb, the green with the car to your left as you pull up alongside it,
and the blue on the road, and you can’t go wrong…’ so bloody complicated. I’ve said forever that if I can just practice and get it wrong enough I’ll get a feel for manoeuvres and know how to do it through intuition because that way (like riding a bike) you can do it in every scenario. But they insist on using these bloody reference points and having me do them religiously.

My DD1 is 33 and just passed her test in an automatic...on the 4th attempt.
She's dyspraxic and the reference points for reversing into a parking space were something she just couldn't get (she's actually a GP and doesn't struggle with instructions as much as spacial awareness)
When she was home I got her to show me, in the little Hyundai i10 auto we got for her, what she was supposed to be doing, and frankly I wasn't surprised she couldn't get ...I couldn't the way she was supposed to with reference points etc.
So I showed her how I did it... not reference points, just swing past at about a 45 degree angle and reverse in...bingo. We went to a car park and she tried it my way and it was so much easier.
Roundabouts, the same... she was over thinking it.
Next test... passed with a couple of minors!
She didn't have any way to practice (as she lives 200 miles away) unless she came home but we did that a couple of times and it made a world of difference and gave her the confidence to ignore the reference points and go with what felt right.
You CAN do this.
TELL the instructor that reference points don't work for you!