Phill Godridge has some articles in this blog, and today he's going to have his third. This time, it's about bad positioning, which causes many failures in the driving test.
Bad Road Position Causes 64,000+ Candidates to Fail the UK Driving Test Every Year!
Position the vehicle correctly during normal driving.
Correct and safe driving is all about dealing with a continuous series of situations, each requiring a routine which needs to be followed and usually a decision to be made. The outcome of this decision is inevitably the difference between pass or fail.
The situations you may be faced with are numerous and widely varied. They include junctions, hazards, other cars, pedestrians, crossings, road marking variations, etc. The list could go on. But there are times when there would appear to be nothing to do except drive in a straight line.
When this is the case, I always tell my pupils - "When there is nothing else to deal with, deal with your speed and position". This ensures that you will always be concentrating on something, rather than nothing.
However, each year there are over 64000 cases of UK driving test failure due to bad positioning.
The driving test report states: "You should position the vehicle sensibly, normally well to the left. Keep clear of parked vehicles and position correctly for the direction that you intend to take. Where lanes are marked, keep to the middle of the lane and avoid straddling lane markings. Do not change lanes unnecessarily."
So what could be wrong with your position that could result in a serious or dangerous fault on a driving test?
I am not talking about driving on the wrong side of the road, or mounting the pavement - if you are doing this, you shouldn't be going for a driving test yet. But there are some very common examples of incorrect driving position which can cost you your test, which, with a little concentration and planning can be avoided altogether.
In my experience, there are four usual suspects when this fault has been given.
1. Driving too close to the kerb can be extremely dangerous given the wrong set of circumstances. Debris collects in the gutter which could easily damage your tyres, especially if there is broken glass or sharp stones. This debris could be flicked out by your tyres and cause injury to pedestrians or property.
When it's been raining, puddles form in areas of poor drainage. It is now an offence to splash a pedestrian; you can be booked for common assault! Besides the fact that the puddle could be concealing some other form of trouble; hidden debris or a pothole for example.
2. On the other extreme, driving too wide can be equally undesirable. The closer you get to the centre line, the closer you are to oncoming traffic. Actually crossing the centre line would put you directly in the path of traffic and could easily cause a head-on crash if the other driver isn't paying attention. There are of course times when it is necessary to straddle or even cross the line, when passing parked vehicles for example, but when this is the case, extra care needs to be taken to ensure the manoeuvre is carried out safely.
If you are on a dual-carriageway and happen to stray too close to the dividing lane line, you are putting yourself in danger from the vehicles approaching to overtake you. The slightest tap at higher speed could cause both you and the passing vehicle to leave the road.
The correct position for normal driving is 1 metre (or 3 feet) from the kerb. This puts you in a safe position, away from danger on either side. Naturally there will be times when you have to adjust this position, to deal with hazards, pedestrians, parked cars, etc. But you must always return to this safe position once the hazard has been passed.
3. I have heard the explanation of this fault given as cutting a right hand bend. This is where the road ahead curves to the right, different from cutting a right hand corner into a side road. I have heard several of my pupils refer to this as "The racing line"...! It may be alright in Formula 1 but not on the public road.
If the road curves to the right, the chances are that the view of the road ahead is blocked by the corner. If you were to take the short cut across the corner, you wouldn't see someone coming the other way until it was too late.
Again, you should remain in position 1 metre from the kerb and drive around the outside of the curve. I ask my pupils to imagine a bus coming around the corner towards them... that keeps them over to the left.
And finally...
4. The most common cause of incorrect position in my experience: Straight-lining a roundabout. This involves cutting across the roundabout rather than driving around it.
When you are dealing with a multiple lane roundabout, you have to imagine where the lane markings would be if they were painted all the way around. Sometimes they are, but usually the markings end at the give-way line. The rest is left to the imagination.
If there are two lanes approaching the roundabout, there must be two lanes going around it. Where there are three or more lanes approaching, there are three or more lanes going around. It is very important that you stay in your lane position as you travel around the roundabout so as not to move across in front of another vehicle.
OK if you are turning right at the roundabout, you will need to move across to the left side of the roundabout before exiting. But this is done carefully, with effective use of the mirrors. Faults are given out when unplanned movements are made without due care and attention.
Phill is an experienced driving instructor who's been running his own driving school for 14 years. But it's not all work. He enjoys using his underwater digital camera in its underwater camera housing most weekends. |
Source: EzineArticles.com.
Thank you, Phill!
Nadav
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