the UK driving test pass rate across the
country is currently 50 and believe it or not that's actually gone up that means a one
in two of you are going to fail a driving test first time I don't know about you but I do not
like those odds now the dvsa shows that in 2022 the number one reason for failing your driving
test was observations at Junctions what's really interesting though is that this was exactly the
same in 2021 and well not 2020 2019 and this goes exactly the same all the way back down to 2008
and if you look at the rest of the top reasons for failing these haven't changed much either lucky
for you after watching this video you are going to know exactly what these reasons for failing
are so you don't make those same mistakes as well we're going to look at the top five reasons
people actually fail their driving test and we're going to look at how we can actually avoid making
these same mistakes now as I mentioned before the number one reason for failing your driving test in
the UK is observations at Junctions if you've got a serious or dangerous fault for this this means
you've put someone else at risk essentially you've pulled out on someone either on a roundabout a car
roads a t-junction or on an edge or carriageway best way to avoid this don't pull out on people
sounds simple doesn't it but we know there's more to it than that so let's have a look at some
ways that we can avoid doing this on our driving test basic rule is anytime you're approaching
a roundabout always slow the car down as much as you can get away with and usually it's going
to be second gear and don't panic if you've gone slightly too slow after all you're approaching a
roundabout what's everyone expecting you to do so I'll give you a very quick example of this you can
see the roundabout coming up so check us actual right mirror I'm planning to turn right I drop
into second gear and I'm slowing right down to 15 miles an hour for this round about unlocking to
the right I can see it's clear so I'm carrying up the other crucial thing to remember about
roundabouts Junctions is it's okay to let someone go when you learn it sometimes people think oh my
god I've missed a space and they're going to panic mode this is normal if you've never been on a
roundabout before you've driven across the country you're going to need to let someone go to judge
the speed so if you're not too sure if you can go or not there's a car there just wait wait even
if you miss a couple of gaps you're going to start to get a better idea of when it is safe to go on
top of this worst case scenario if you have missed a few gaps you might get a driving fault which
is nothing but if you do pull out and someone and misjudge it you're going to support people
at risk which means you've got an instant value driving test so if in doubt always wait worst case
scenario you're going to get a driving fault for hesitation how many people have I had failed for
hesitating on a roundabout none how many people have I had failed for pulling out around about
plenty there's your answer after all the driving test is all about safety we don't want to run
people over we don't want to cause any accidents it's far better to delay people slightly delay
yourself slightly than take any risks and the final thing to think about is if you do pull out
on someone or you think well that's a bit close don't hang about get out the way get gone put your
foot down if need be because if you get out the way of that person you don't slow them down the
exam is still highly likely to pass you on your driving test if this is helping then don't forget
to give that subscribe button A little nudge nudge in the right direction another really common issue
we see with observations at roundabouts is we're very good with our observations looking left and
right but we actually look too much and when the car starts to move we're still looking left and
right and then the car ends up going across onto the wrong side of the road which again is high
risk and that's going to cause a failing driving test the second that car starts to move at the
junction you need to be locking in the direction you're planning to go because after all our
hands will follow where our eyes are locking if you want to give yourself the best possible
chance of passing your driving test first time or even second time or third time have a look at
my online driving course in the description below it costs less than one driving lesson a bit of a
no-brainer if you ask me but it's that simple less than the price of one driving lesson let's have
a look at the next one the number two reason for failing our driving test in the UK is not using
our mirrors correctly well what does this even mean put simply it's about locking in the mirrors
when you actually need to not just randomly now the problem with not checking your mirrors is yes
it's generally only a minor in most situations but if you're going on your driving test for 4 or
40 cars well five times not checking your mirrors and it's going to very quickly turn into a
serious fault easy way to avoid the system thing anytime my car moves to the right across the
road I need to check my Central and right mirror and anytime my car moves to the left
across the road it's Central left mirror that includes turning left into a road turning
right into Road any time this occurs always two mirrors that way you're never going to go wrong
and that's what they'd call effective observations now there are two times that if you don't check
your mirrors you probably will get a serious Vault on the first go and that is because it's a high
risk situation I'm going to show you what they are now the first one is when we're following the road
ahead or turning right on a roundabout as we come off that exit we have to check that left mirror
and window just to make sure there's not a sneaky car or sneaky bike trying to sneak in the second
one is as we enter a slip Road and we're trying to join onto a dual carriageway if we don't
check in that right mirror and the blind spot maybe a vehicle there which means you're going
to fail your test the third biggest reason for failing the UK driving test is not having proper
control of the steering well this could really mean anything couldn't it but if you do this it
is going to be what it says on the 10 it's going to be something related to steering which means
chances are you've either hit the curb or you've misjudged your steering and you've gone on to the
wrong side of the road here's a few examples most Junctions are called bowel mouth Junctions they
call bowel mouth junctures because they're shaped like the bell of a mouth or the mouth of a bell
this means if you're turning left at the junction the curb is actually going to curve slightly to
the left meaning when you drive away it's going to be a lot easier for you to get up to speed and
stay on your side of the road it also means anyone behind you that's planning to turn right can
possibly turn right at the same time as you but they can't do this if you don't position yourself
nice and close to the curve on the left and if you don't do this this means you're holding people up
and chances are you're going to fail your driving test the other big time that steering becomes an
issue is again when we block traffic when we're trying to turn right from a main road into a
side road when we're turning right we should be positioning nice and close to that Central
White Line If instead we make a mistake and either position ourselves in the middle of the
road or actually on the left we're again going to block the traffic behind us meaning they can't
get to where they need to go and that's bad for us sometimes there's just get the better of us
especially when we're a driving test and we could do so we'd never normally do such as the cup use
a reference point in your car I like I'll explain how we create a reference point so we're trying to
figure out how to make a reference point to part next to the curb and I hit the curve but also not
be too far from the curb now I'll tell you how to do this step by step so you can do it in your car
at Home Step One we ask someone kindly to park our car for us nice and close to the curb step two
while we're in a normal seated position we look at the point on the windscreen where our eyes are
actually seeing the curve meet the windscreen now in most people's cars you can use the window wiper
the section the window wiper when that's touching the curve normally that means you're parked in
a nice nice cozy distance to the curb and my car unfortunately you can't actually see it because
the bonnet's in the way so instead what you do is you just get a little bit of sticky tape in my
car I've just stuck that L There To Remind people that it's left but it's also the perfect point
that meets the curb as well to show someone when they're parked nice and close to the curb if
that goes past the point and ends up sitting on the curb then that means you're too close and
chances are in my car you've hit the curb if it's too too far then chances are you are miles from
the curb so The Sweet Spot is sitting right on the curb now you can do that in your car just
by sticking a bit of tape on the window as well down the road as you can at the end of the curb
and that way you'll guide yourself into the curb nice and gently if you look at the curve directly
in front of you what tends to happen is our hands follow our eyes so we look at the curve and we
end up driving straight into the curb instead if you continue looking at the end of the road
you'll slowly guide your way towards the curb without actually ending up driving straight into
it the other thing to remember with this is we don't need to be kissing the curb we can be a
drains width from the curb approximately half a meter would be acceptable you'd still pass a
driving test without an issue if you're that far from the curb what you do want to do is Mount
that curve if you mount that curve that is more than likely the end of your driving test now the
most common series ding dong now the most common series steering fault is when we end up meeting
traffic and the issue that we have is Imagine This is a car and this is you we end up driving too
close to the car and at the very last second we pop out and go surprise this means anyone that is
coming towards you at the same time has no chance to react or move out the way slightly to give you
space it also makes it look to the passenger like you may very well drive into that parked car
so instead what we do is we turn the banana around and we follow the pattern of the banana we
pull out from behind the parts car nice and early giving ourselves a very clear view of what's
ahead it also gives anyone oncoming towards you a very clear view of you meaning they can
move across closer to the curb and it shows the passenger I am not going to drive into that car
now if you've seen the banana before with the meeting traffic situation you will know that I've
taken that from Conker driving and what can I say why try and fix something if it's it's not broken
fourth biggest reason in the UK for failing your driving test is incorrect positioning when turning
right at Junctions now remember Junctions can be roundabouts Crossroads pretty much anything where
there's a new road for roundabouts the best way to do this is follow the basic rules here's an
example now of course if there are Road markings with arrows always follow these if there's not
Road markings then we follow the basic rules of anything that is a right turn on a roundabout
we position ourselves on the right if it's not considered a right turn then we position ourselves
on the left even if it's one lane we would still position in that way because it's going to show
everyone exactly where we are going what we are doing and it's also going to mean that if the
lane is wide enough for another car to leave at the same time as you you are not hogging that
space it's also really important to remember that the driving test is all about safety not about
directions so if you do position yourself in the left and it's too late to get over to the right
on the roundabout and you're supposed to turn right then the safest option is to go either left
or following the road ahead wherever your lane is able to go because that is risk-free at that
point all you've then got to say to the examiner is I was in the wrong lane so I've had to choose
to go the wrong lane can you redirect and you've acknowledged this then and they're gonna have no
problem and not give you any faults at all this also applies to those Central Lanes which are
called protected Lanes they're designed there for you to get into so the traffic behind you can
continue on but sometimes we don't get into them properly and a car still blocks the rest of the
lane the final heartbreaking fault that I see on driving test far more than I'd like is the blind
spot Jack and this is any time your car's in a parked position be that after an emergency stop
angled start hail start just pulling over on the left pulling over on the right it doesn't matter
if your car is in a parked position where there's potential for someone to go around you we need
to have a 360 degree degree look around the car so we start off ideally on the slowest side and
I'm talking the side where there's least likely for danger to change quickly which in this case
is the curve look over there Mirror Mirror mirror mirror on the wall and a quick blind spot check
over the shoulder there if it's still clear and I'm going to get a Pronto move on then it's safe
to go now you might be thinking right I'm on my driving test I'm on this road where there's never
anyone on this road I know there's no one around me the examiner knows there's no one around me so
what's the point in checking my blind spot and you would be correct maybe you don't feel like in that
situation there is any point but this is the only opportunity that that examiner gets to see if you
are actually understanding what you're supposed to be doing while driving on the road and if you're
not going to check it now why would the examiner think you're going to check it when you go to
Morrison's Aldi where the car park is rammed full of people now you are going to be pulled over on
your driving test anywhere between three and eight times depending on if you are doing everything
correctly or not so it's really important that you don't forget to check your blind spots well
you can see how important it is because it's the fifth biggest reason for failing a driving test
if you want to give yourself the best possible chance of passing your driving test first time
or even second time or third time have a look at my online driving course in the description
below it costs less than one driving lesson and those are the five biggest reasons for people
actually throwing their driving test in the UK if you've learned anything from those don't forget to
subscribe because I'm going to bring the next five out in the next few weeks I am Josh a driving
instructor and I'll see you through a window
