On 13/11/2013 10:00, F wrote:
On 12/11/2013 23:43 SteveW wrote:

I know my wife
would fail and that would mean her losing her job, depite the fact that
she is actually a very good and safe driver (I get very uncomfortable as
a passenger with most other drivers). She would simply panic. She is
very nervous about driving anywhere she doesn't know, but perfectly
capable of driving where she needs for work, because it is all in a
limited area that she knows. If she needs to go somewhere new, she
travels with a colleague for the first visit or gets me to take her in
after work. She knows her limits and sticks within them.

That's far from the definition of 'a very good and safe driver'.

There's nothing wrong with being limited as long as you know your own
limits and stick to them - it's the ones that don't that are the
problem, hence the high number of accidents in the young and some of the
elderly. She isn't overly hesitant or overly confident; has good road
positioning and observation; sensibly adjusts her speed to the
conditions; thinks about others when she's stopping or parking; etc.,
etc. All the things that we should aspire to!

She is actually perfectly capable of dealing with things beyond what
she'll meet, but is stressed by knowing in advance that she's going to a
new area, far more so with someone observing her. That's one of the
reasons for not driving the first trip somewhere herself - assessment of
new patients usually requires two staff and a new area and feeling that
a collegue is observing her would be too close to a driving test, hence
let them drive her to a new patient rather than the other way round!
She'd She has enough stress in her life and there is no reason to add to it.

Over the years I have done numerous exams and the only ones I have been
nervous about while doing them are the driving test, observed practicals
and presentations - it's not the pressure of the exams that is the
problem, it's the pressure of having someone watching you. Many people
would fail unnecessarily, just due to that.

SteveW