On Sat, 04 Feb 2012 13:48:10 +0000, The Medway Handyman wrote:

On 03/02/2012 18:14, Mr. Benn wrote:
Anyone got any advice on how to pass the hazard perception part of the
driving test? My son uses the official CD for practice, but has failed
the test again. This time the bloke at the test centre said my son
should write to complain as he could see no problem with his test. Last
time he failed, I don't think he got any points.

There is clearly something different between the official CD and the
test, as he does fine in practice. I think he may be clicking too
quickly (although being a twit might be a contributing factor).
Nevertheless, people are obviously passing this thing, and he isn't.
Any pointers would be gratefully received!!


Many years ago, when God was a boy, my sales manager was an ex police
pursuit driver. When we went out to see major accounts, I drove & he
taught me the police commentary driving method.

In answer to the question "how far ahead should you be looking" he used
to "as far as you can see".

When my daughters learned to drive I tried the hazard perception CD &
failed miserably many times.

What I regarded as a potential hazard was regarded as over clicking.

You only need to click the glaringly obvious hazards IME.

That's the thing, I think - the name's a bit misleading, and maybe
"hazard avoidance" would be more accurate; from what I've read here, it
sounds like they expect you to just click on immediate dangers, rather
than "stuff in the distance that I need to keep my eye on in case it
develops into something serious" (the latter being what I'd term as
perception).

Maybe it's a good thing in a way because it's encouraging people not to
slam on the anchors at every little thing that might possibly become a
danger.

I took the UK road test sometime around 1997 (after relying on trains for
years) - IIRC there was a "written" (I think it was multiple-choice)
theory test, but no computer-based test then; I think that came in a year
or two later.

I took a US test last year too (although I'd been driving here on my UK
licence for a few years) and that was incredibly easy in comparison; I'm
in a rural location so saw all of about ten vehicles, the roads are
really wide with good visibility etc. and you use your own vehicle here.
No emergency stop or three point turn to worry about, either (just
parallel park, reversing into a spot, and hill park/start). I think my
test was the first time I'd actually parallel-parked a vehicle in over a
decade.

cheers

Jules