Pass With Us!

Here at Always Pass we have a good first time pass rate, as we make sure our learners are well prepared for their test.  The driving test is difficult to pass, you have to be a good driver to pass. It wouldn’t be worth having a test if it wasn’t tricky! It’s there to ensure only good drivers are allowed out on the road. The DVSA have published a guide showing the top ten reasons people fail their test. It’s worth being aware of them so you can ensure you’re not falling into any of these common faults.

Not having proper control of the steering

This sounds a bit daft – of course you need to have control of your car to pass your test! But 1 in 10 accidents in Great Britain in 2019 were caused by drivers making a poor turn. This could be cutting the corner when turning into a road, or turning too late. You could be steering too late when moving past parked cars. This would mean you’re too close to the cars and could hit them.

Incorrect positioning when turning right at junctions

If you’re turning right you need to leave enough room for other cars to pass you on the left hand side. If you’re turning right at a roundabout you need to be in the right lane so other traffic knows where you’re going.

Not moving off safely

When pulling away you have to check your blind spot, and check behind your car. It’s important to check it’s safe to pull away. You should get into a routine of checking before you move every time, so you don’t fail your test this way, or worse cause an accident.

Not responding correctly to traffic signs

Speed limits, bus lanes, stop and no entry signs are there for a reason. You have to obey these signs. This is why you have to pass your theory test before you take the practical driving test, to prove you understand what these signs mean.

Not having control of the vehicle when moving off

When moving off you need to be able to drive without stalling or rolling back if you’re on a hill. You need to make sure you’re in the correct gear and have proper control of your vehicle. It sounds so simple, but if you’re nervous it can be easy to be flustered and stall or forget to check you’re in first gear before moving off. You will achieve this with plenty of practice. A mock test should help you to sort problems like this out before you take your test.

Not keeping control of the vehicle during reverse parking

Whether you’re parking in a bay or a parallel park you need to complete the manoeuvre without hitting the curb and have control of the car at all times. It might feel like a trivial thing, but in the rest of your driving life you’ll need to be able to park your car.

Darker Nights

Now the nights are drawing in and everyone is looking forward to Christmas it’s a good time to think about lights, and not just the ones on your tree. It’s very important to be seen in the dark afternoons and evenings. It’s not something everyone thinks about, we often get into the car, and as long as we’ve remembered to flick the light switch on we forget about it. We know it’s good practice, whatever the time of year to periodically check your lights.

Headlights and Indicators

Now check your headlights and indicators. Get back in the car and turn on your headlights and hazard lights. Get out to check everything is as it should be, you should see headlights, rear (red) lights and indicators on the front and rear. It’s worth doing this in the dark if you can, as you will be able to check your headlight alignment as well.

Alignment

Headlights should be angled so they don’t blind oncoming traffic. If one of your lights seems to be a bit off you can get it realigned in a garage, or you may be able to adjust it yourself.

To check alignment you will need to make sure there’s no weight in the car, so you don’t have anything in the boot or a friend sitting in the car. You also need to know your tyres are all inflated as they should be. You will need a wall that you can use to measure the field of light on. Park about 60cm away from the wall (facing it) the ground should be flat.

Turn on your headlights, not fog lights or full beam. The headlights will produce circle shapes on the wall. You need to use tape or chalk to make a cross on each circle. One line should go vertically from the top of the circle to the bottom and the other should go horizontally across the widest part. Where the two lines meet in the middle is the centre of your headlights.

The centre of both plus signs should be the same height, so use a tape measure to check. If they aren’t, you may need to lower one plus sign so that they are the same height.

Once you’re happy with your marks and they’re both the same height, reverse your car so it’s about eight metres from the wall. If the middle of your headlights still fall within your markings, then you don’t need to make any adjustments. If they are falling above, below, or to the side of the plus symbols, then you’ll need to realign your headlights. If you’re not sure about checking this on your own, don’t worry. Most garages will check your headlight alignment for you.

The First Speeding Ticket

The first speeding ticket was given way back in 1896. Back then the speed limit was a heady 2mph, and the law required you to have a man with a red flag walking in front of your vehicle. Walter Arnold was driving without this precaution at a heady 8mph! Of course the police man that caught him to give him a ticket was on a bicycle, so it must have been the slowest police chase that you can imagine!

The publicity that surrounded this case when it reached court didn’t do Mr Arnold any harm, he had to pay a 1 shilling fine plus costs, but at the time he was one of the earliest car dealers in the country. Having shown how fast you could travel in one of his new cars the publicity created a great demand for his Arnold Benz horseless carriages. The law was changed soon after to increase the limit to 14mph, and the man with the flag was no longer required. I can’t help thinking this was a clever way to earn a lot of publicity by a salesman who didn’t mind using the law to his own ends.

Safe Driving

When you learn to drive you have to learn what the limit is on different roads in the UK. We are all familiar with speed limit signs, they’re the round ones with the maximum limit on them. It’s also important to remember the limits for motorways, dual carriageways and single carriageways. You should also know the appropriate speed for a built up area, in case you’ve missed that all important speed limit sign. Not knowing what the limit is won’t be a good defence if you’re stopped by the police. Knowing your speed limits isn’t just to help you to pass your theory and practical driving test. It’s to keep you and other road uses safe for years to come.

We’re experts in teaching people to drive safely, if you’re interested in driving lessons get in touch.

New Highway Code Rules

At the beginning of the year the Highway Code was updated with new rules. These are to improve the safety of the most vulnerable road users, so we all need to be aware of them. Of course we have to be aware that drivers may not have caught up with the new rules, so caution is always a good idea. It’s not very useful to find yourself on the right side of the rules, but injured because someone else wasn’t aware of the change.

Hierarchy of road users

This concept has a system to order road users depending on their level of risk. The groups are:

• Pedestrians
• Cyclists, horse riders and drivers of horse drawn vehicles
• Drivers

Rule H1 applies to all road users. This states that it’s important that everyone is aware of the Highway Code, and their responsibility for the safety of others. The rule reminds us that it may not be obvious that other road users may have impaired sight, hearing or mobility.

Rule H2 applies to everyone except pedestrians. It reads “At a junction you should give way to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross a road into which or from which you are turning.” Previously drivers were told to give way to pedestrians if they “have started crossing and traffic wants to turn into the road”. It is not a big change, it only applies to junctions, and means you have to be aware that a pedestrian may step out into the road to be able to cross. A good driver should be aware of pedestrians and should be extra vigilant when turning into a junction. Pedestrians need to be aware that they can’t just step out into any road and expect the traffic to stop. A new addition also makes it clear to pedestrians that they should “cross at a place where drivers can see you.”.

Staying Safe

Rule H2 also advises on priorities at zebra crossings. This tells drivers they:

• MUST give way when a pedestrian has moved onto a crossing
• SHOULD give way when a pedestrian is waiting to cross

Rule H3 applies to drivers and motorcyclists:

“You should not cut across cyclists, horse riders or horse-drawn vehicles going ahead when you are turning into or out of a junction or changing direction or lane, just as you would not turn across the path of another motor vehicle.”

Cyclists also have advice about their position on the road.

Cyclists should ride in the centre of their lane:

• on quiet roads and streets
• in slower-moving traffic
• when approaching junctions or narrow roads

If these conditions have not been met, and it is safe to do so, cyclists should allow vehicles moving faster than them to overtake, while keeping at least 0.5 metres – or further – from the kerb themselves.

Basically drivers should give way to cyclists, and cyclists should try to ensure they are not holding traffic up when it is safe to do so.

It can feel difficult to keep up with new rules, but these new Highway Code rules are keeping everyone safe on the road.

If you want to learn to be a safe driver why not learn to drive with us!

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High petrol costs

It now costs over £100 to fill the average cars petrol tank, which is a painful fact for most motorists that need to drive to get to work. Fuel prices have been rising sharply since 2020, over the last two years they have risen around 50 pence per litre. The rise in petrol prices is due to a number of factors. The main one is the war in Ukraine, and moves to reduce our dependence on Russian oil. The cut in fuel duty has not had much of an effect on prices as they have been rising so quickly. A full report about the rise in petrol prices can be found on the BBC, that you can read here.

The Solution

With petrol prices rising to this all time high, and the climate crisis requiring us all to use fewer fossil fuels, now is a good time to invest in electric vehicles. These are only greener if your electricity is generated by renewable sources, but it is possible to have carbon free motoring in the future. We recognise that learning to drive is going to change dramatically in the future, with more people wanting to learn in an electric vehicle.

Todays learners will spend most of the rest of their lives driving electric cars rather than the petrol vehicles that most people learn to drive. This is why we have invested in a fully electric car. This makes sense not just in economic terms, with no more expensive trips to the petrol station, but in terms of the future for our learners.