The only good thing about my experience with the driving test was my ever-cheerful instructor. By the time I eventually passed it, I’d had hundreds of lessons and had spent thousands of pounds. My skills may not have been perfect, but I’m not convinced there was that much wrong with my driving. What I do know is that the driving test authorities kept moving the goalposts and with every new reform of the system, the prospect of success receded into the distance. I’m all in favour of safe roads and safe drivers, but some tasks learner drivers are required to perform nowadays seem bizarre. It would not surprise me if the test eventually included knowing how to carry out a full engine change on the side of the public highway. No wonder the pass rate for the driving test has dropped like a stone in recent years.

The theory test wasn’t a problem for me, but I found the practical part incredibly challenging. It requires you to be constantly aware of your surroundings. You need to use signals appropriately, anticipate potential hazards and have eyes in the back of your head. I was making some progress, but the worst thing was the ever-present fear of failure, which hugely affected my performance. Apart from taking driving lessons, I started going to a therapist and finally managed to navigate and pass the practical test, but this happened only after I’d accepted the fact that I had to endure those 40 minutes of stress and learned to focus on following the examiner’s instructions regardless of my internal emotions.Speaker C 

When I got into the car that day, I noticed my instructor was in a bad mood. We were practising roundabouts and halfway round one of them, he started gesturing at a different exit than the one I thought I had been asked to take. He suddenly grabbed the wheel, which made me swerve unexpectedly, and the car brushed a concrete post. I was really shaken up and couldn’t help crying! To make matters worse, instead of comforting me, the instructor muttered, “I meant the other exit”. I knew it wasn’t my fault, but the experience was so intimidating that I rang the test centre and cancelled my test which was due to take place the following week. For a few weeks I couldn’t stand the thought of driving, but then I returned to the driving school and requested a change of instructor.Speaker D 

I was desperate to pass the driving exam, but my beginnings were tough. The first time I took my driving test, I drove for at least 5 minutes without noticing the handbrake was on. When the smell of burning rubber became overpowering, the examiner ordered me to return to the testing centre, and then informed me I had “not been successful”. To the man’s apparent discomfort, I burst into tears, not from disappointment, as he probably imagined, but from relief that the ordeal was at last over and that I could finally get out of the vehicle. A few years and driving tests later, I finally did get my driving licence but the feeling of insecurity remained. From a strictly statistical perspective, I may be one of the safest “road users” in the United Kingdom as I hardly ever sit at the wheel of a vehicle and never venture out on roads I am not familiar with. But I can fully understand why the number of people deciding to take the driving test is at its lowest for 10 years. Why would people put themselves through such an expensive and difficult ordeal if they didn’t absolutely have to?