Let’s face it; once you pass your driving test you think your worries are over. With your freshly printed driving licence in your warm little mitts you are free to drive and to sermon learner drivers on how they should do things.
Ah, but what would happen if you were plucked out of your comfort zone and dumped unceremoniously into the seat of the car you passed your test in again?
Would you freeze up when the frosty faced test instructor told you to do an emergency stop? Would you send a bunch of bins flying when you tried to do an elegant three point turn?
Photo credit: Berit Watkin
Some studies suggest that three quarters of UK drivers would fail their driving test if they had to take it again. A piece of research by RED Driving School took 50 experienced drivers and put them through their paces in a mock driving test. 38 of them failed, with one of them racking up a shocking 10 major fails along the way.
So why do we drive so badly once we pass our test? The answer is probably down to bad habits. Once we think that we know it all, it is easy to start speeding, stop using our indicators, concentrate more on the music than on the road signs and, well, I could go on.
Perhaps this study is a welcome reminder that we all need to carry on taking care when behind the wheel. Whether you’ve had your licence for a year or 30 years you can’t afford to think that you know it all. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m just off to practise my parallel parking for the first time in a decade.
- Do you think that you would pass your driving test now?