BIG LEBOWSKI:
The other lad drove first to the gear exercise area.
Donāt you still do this on the road?
Anyway glad to hear youāre getting used to the truck, just make sure you miss those kerbs
Yes.
I meant area as in the road where they do the exercise.
I will be dreaming of giving those kerbs a wide berth tonight.
A lot of it was to do with being pushed over by oncoming traffic with parked cars on their side. The instructor did say that I shouldnāt let them push me over to the left as they have a bit of room on their left so itās upto them to move over a bit more. Very well said but you still get some cars coming straight at you as if they were the ones driving a truck!!
Tomorrow I will not let them do it!!
I was told by my instuctor to use my size ,dont let the cars push u about , dont mean on roundabouts ,cos u gotta watch cars there,but like when u setting off up a rd not wide enough for cars to pass u ,if u set off first keep going ,i had one i was half way down a rd cars parked both side ,other end golf GTI had to stop and wait while i got to end cos i was blocking his way looked at me like ā ā ā ā and it was my fault? good luck with the test ok
Cheers mate.
Tomorrow Iāll go out there and keep my line and keep my eyes peeled for those kerbs.
Itās getting closer now and Iām feeling the nerves.
Iām going to get focused and calm tomorrow night ready for Saturday afternoon. Iāve got to get there calm and collected and get on with it.
Iām glad Iāve found this site for advice etc.
I just want to say a big thanks to you all for all the encouragement, advice and good lucks!
I fluked my class 1 in 1990, and it was a fluke. I ballsed up the padwork but had a really good road test so he passed me.
When I came out here it was the opposite. Flew through the 2 pre-trips then got messed up out on the road and I failed. Bit embarassing when you have been driving the damned things for almost 20 years. In fairness to me, the turn I was told to make was impossible because there was another truck in the way, but that was no consolation. I then took the test again 2 days later in Winnipeg, on a route I had not driven, and passed, despite rubbing a kerb and the fact it was snowing like a good-un.
We all make mistakes. You fret far too much about kerbs. The only time you have to be sure is on the test, and that is an hour or so. And no, I am not belittling it, but I guarantee you will squash loads of kerbs before you are much older. 1 hour of being extra careful and you have the rest of your working life to jounce over all the kerbs you want. Youāll be fine. As for cars cutting you off and forcing you to go off line, that is one of the things you will get forever. Again, 1 hour and itās done.
I wish you, and all other test takers, the very best of luck. If things go wrong then try again. Lady luck has been known to smile on occasion.
Well, the training is over and I got my test tomorrow at 13:00
It went well today.
I made sure no one was going to push me over to the left from the otherside of the road. I watched those kerbs whilst turning at junctions etc like a hawk but came close to rubbing once or twice but never did.
Instructor said he would shout at us today if we were going wrong as it was our last day.
Reversing was a bit ropey as it was lashing it down with rain but I got there in the end.
Gear exercise went ok but Iām glad that Iāve got a practice before test tomorrow.
I had the last drive of the day and it went well, it gave me a bit of a confidence boost for tomorrow but I wonāt get too over confident.
The other lad didnāt do too well to start of with (he had the first drive of the day) because he wasnāt feeling too well as he had a bit of a stomach bug. He got there after a while.
Oh well. Tomorrow is the day.
Iāll post my result tomorrow afternoon.
Thanks to everyone for support and good lucks!
Failed!
21 minors and 3 serious.
What a cluster f+ck!!
Traffic lights. Turning right, I should of moved out to trigger green light at a dual carriage way.
Traffic sign. Missed a stop sign at a T junction.
Foot brake. Too heavy at times.
I just wasnāt comfortable driving the truck and spent most of the time making sure I stayed off the kerbs hence missing the stop sign at the T junction.
Nerves played a major part.
Iāll post an indepth report tomorrow cos at the moment Iām at a low and I donāt want to keep thinking about it, which I will until I get blood coming out of my ears!!
sorry to here that mate, horrible feeling I know been there got the T shirtsā¦but as you know I never gave up & iām driving the Big uns now
BIG LEBOWSKI:
21 minors is a lot though, wouldnāt you sayā ā ?
mmmmm that is a lot!!! youāll have to post what your minors were for!!! i remember i was marked down for 5 minors on gears which he then put down as a seriousā¦so iām guessing you had similar probsā ā ?
I Know you wont give up, & you now know what the test condintion feels like , & what they are looking forā¦which will help you next time.
Hey BIGā¦donāt get disheartened mate, i failed twice so farā¦we BOTH know we CAN do itā¦ok so you got x amount of minors and no its not fantasticā¦but in comparison to the duration of the test its still a good first attempt as it shows your learning! As others have said, its an hours performance and all you can do is your best.
Just to make you pee yourselfā¦the guy i was training with last time made me laugh (i know i shouldnāt), firstly he KILLED A CONE IN THE TEST CENTREā¦Literally ran blatantly over it. And secondly we were at traffic lights and started moving offā¦nothing strange about that, but i was looking at the traffic lights and they were still RED!
We can passā¦lets both get it done next time, then we can meet whilst out driving and iāll buy you a beer (soft drink if its only a break lol)!
sorry to hear you failed but try not to worry i done a practice test and it was not good but all came together on test you have just had it the other way around good practice and unlucky test forget it book another and try not to worry and relax
Thanks to everyone for there messages of support etc.
Iām still gutted but not as much as yesterday.
I did write all this out earlier but as I went to post it my internet went down and I lost the lot!
I got to the test station at 11:30am and Ashley was already there (thatās the lad who I was training with), his test was at 14:30
The truck came back off test and we got in and Ashley drove to the truckstop, on the way we did our up\downhill starts and gear exercise.
At the truckstop we did our reverse\braking exercise.
Then I drove to the test centre.
I was nervous but they went away after I started doing the reversing exercise.
Brake exercise was done then off onto the road. My nerves came back a bit but I was ok after a couple of minutes.
Everything was ok until we hit the right turn at a dual carriage way. I should of moved out to trigger the turn right green light. I just sat there waiting for it to come on. The lights went to red and the examiner asked me why I just sat there and told me I should of gone out and waited. I just canāt believe that I did that!! That was it I knew it was all over!!
Footbrake was a bit harsh, I got the serious on a mini island. Going straight ahead and a car approaching the island from the left looked like it wasnāt going to stop (we had cars not stopping and cutting us up at islands all week whilst training) so I put the brakes on a bit sharp to stop before the line. The ā ā ā ā then decided to stop a bit sharpish and just sat there looking at us!!
Back to centre after the usual gear exercise etc.
I then heard the āFAILEDā
Then the rollocking!!
He said that I had 21 minors and 3 serious.
My first serious was for missing a stop sign at a T junction. I stopped but didnāt apply the handbrake and then went.
Second was for the traffic light.
Third was for footbrake. The examiner said I was being too hard on it at times. I put some of that to nerves etc.
I could not believe how many minors I had got.
Here they are:-
CONTROL-
GEARS = 3
FOOTBRAKE = 3 THEN A SERIOUS
STEERING = 3
GEAR EXERCISE = 1
MOVE OFF-
CONTROL = 2
USE OF MIRRORS-
CHANGE DIRECTION = 1
SIGNALS-
CORRECTLY = 4 He said that I was signalling too much when overtaking parked cars and should of held my line. I know I did signal once across from a junction which was my own fault.
FOLLOWING DISTANCE = 1
PROGRESS-
UNDUE HESITATION = 1 That must have been that incident at the mini island with that car coming from the left.
POSITIONING-
LANE DISCIPLINE = 1 Wrong lane at an island but managed to recover it ok.
PEDESTRIAN CROSSING = 1 Back end of truck ended up on a crossing.
I went a told my told my instructor that I failed and he looked at my sheet and told me to phone the office on Tuesday to get a retest date.
I shook Ashelyās hand and wished him luck.
I then went and sat in my car and had a ciggie. I looked at the sheeted and looked at the 21 minors and 3 serious boxes. I did think, am I suited to do this??
I was well ā ā ā ā ā ā off!
I felt very uncomfortable driving the truck, I had probs with the gearbox in the week but I had thought that I had got it sorted. After the test the examiner said I was fighting with it, being too heavy with it.
Footbrake, I was warned a couple of times about this from my instructor but never realised it was that bad. It might have been nervesā ā ?
I decided to go and see the instructor and see what to do.
I asked him what do I do now, look at the result, 21 minors and 3 serious.
He looked at where the faults were and said that I need more time driving the truck to get used to it. I then told him that I felt I wasnāt comfortable driving the truck that afternoon and some of it was down to nerves.
He said the result wasnāt that bad and that I should book a retest for a Monday morning and have another 4 hours in the truck on the Sunday just driving it around in general just to get more used to it. He told me to phone the office on Monday morning and tell them what he had said and take it from there. He will see them on Monday too.
What do I do?
Do I retest on a Monday and book 4 hours driving on the Sunday (more money) or just put in for the retest only as I know where my faults are and try to avoid them on the retest?? I only pay the retest fee but if I fail again then it will cost me another retest fee and 4 hours training.
What would you do?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Big, REALLY sorry to hear about your test result If it were me, I think I would get the extra 4hrs training in, its surprising what a difference that can make, every time you get in you are familiarising yourself more and more, and things start to feel a lot more comfortable, Iām sure a few more hours just driving will help you nail that re-test, more expense I know, but money well spent