Since my first attempt to reply has been deleted by the admin, lets try again.

BBC reports the driver has been charged with being over the drink drive limit; it did so at the time I linked the story, and still did so in the updated version showing when I made my first reply..

BTW, thank you for calling me a hero.

It wasnt a case of underestimating his blind spot; he didnt indicate. I was driving directly behind them and it could have easily been me if he had waited another few seconds.

This particular incident actually sticks in my mind for another reason as well; after stopping the lorry, dragging the two girls out of their wrecked car and taking care of them until the emergency services arrived, I was 2 hours late to work - so my employers - even after hearing WHY I was late - docked me 1/2 a days pay.

I would also point the "HGV drivers are better because they retake the test regularly" brigade at last nights BBC story, two HGV drivers arrested and charged over the M1 deaths yesterday - one of them was DRUNK.

Idiot, where does it say one of the drivers was 'DRUNK' ? You have no idea what really happened so don't speculate. Let the police do their job.
You drove fast to catch up with this lorry driver, stopped him and then ran back to the car? Yea of course you did, what a hero you are. And only 2 hours late, wow.
BTW, we don't retake the test. We have a medical every 5 years after the age 45. Do you have to have a medical to drive? I drive sbout 1500 miles professionally a week.

Yes I agree with you that some drivers underestimate the size of lorries' blind spots

People who earn a living on the road seem to be the worst, and I include everyone in that, from cycle couriers up to HGV drivers.

Nice to know I'd still pass. I was naive and got the puncture on a motorway wrong (I assumed you'd just change it yourself, rather than use the emergency telephone. Makes sense in hindsight though. Also got the white stick with red band (which apparently means blind and deaf). Happy with 48, but still, I learned something.

This question/answer had me cracking up:
Q) A casualty has an injured arm. They can move it freely but it is bleeding. Why should you get them to keep it in a raised position?

45 LOL

Annoyingly I didn't get to see my wrong answers.

When you are in the lane 1, and a 10 tonne lorry in lane 3 decides they need to take the exit you are just passing.... that makes you a bad driver as well??

Another example, sadly from before I had dashcams.

Two teenage girls in a Fiesta, middle lane, overtaking a 44 tonne lorry, heading north on the M5. Without warning the lorry decided to pull out, hitting the rear quarter of the Fiesta, spinning it around and jamming it under the front of the cab.

Not only had the driver of the lorry not seen the Fiesta, or taken notice of the impact, he DIDNT STOP!!..

I had to overtake, get in front, slap my hazards on and FORCE him to stop (with the help of another car forming a rolling roadblock)..

Luckily for the two girls, the car was brand new, so the tyres were brand new and correctly inflated; if one had blown, the rim would have dug in and the lorry would have driven over the top of them.

Passed 43

A crash takes 2 bad drivers, not 1.

Absolutely agree - I see shocking driving by LGV and HGV drivers daily on the motorways. Having crashed into the central reservation on the M62 caused by an LGV driver doing a last second lane change, causing another car to swerve into my lane and pushing me into the central reservation. The LGV driver just carried on regardless.

From then on, i have front and rear dash cams to protect myself from a repeat again.

Press the "get deal" tab :wink:

Unfortunately, that 5 yearly refresher doesnt stop bad driving by commercial vehicles; I have plenty of evidence on MY dashcam.
I have been run off the road by LGVs twice - both drivers desperate to overtake slow moving traffic at any cost; once on a blind corner, and once on a multi-lane approach to a major roundabout.
Then there are the HGV drivers who shouldnt be allowed to ride a bike, let alone a 40 tonne lethal weapon....

My dashcam fottage has been used to fire at least two drivers; one a National Express coach driver who swerved across three lanes with no warning - to make the Gatwick Airport turning.


DVLA has made the tests a LOT harder for ESL learners, who struggle to read everything fast enough, until a few years ago, they could have a translator to help, but after numerous cases of fraud, instead of policing the translation system, they simply dropped it, and make everyone take the test unaided.

No it's not. I passed the real theory test recently. While a lot of the easy questions are accurate and similar, the actual test has a few harder questions that none of these practice tests test you on.

How do people manage to fail a theory test? 45 out of the 50 questions are just basic common sense. Only the hand signal ones and the rail track required a second or two of thought.

I think there should be compulsory govt funded retests every 5 for theory and 10 years practical. Those that fail have to pay an additional £1000 insurance premium tax that govt can use to fund it, and given same restrictions as new drivers, maybe even a compulsory black box and only allowed to drive at certain times.

Then blow the rest of the money on cycle lanes.

I see so many lane hoggers. I just cannot get it into my head why they do it. But you hit the nail on the head mattsloft, arrogance, I also think they are selfish to other road users. They are dangerous and I wish there were more Traffic Police to enforce the fines.

48 of 50 in 11min. I had no idea about the hand/arm signals and just did not answer two such questions (at zebra crossing and when turning left) :-/

How much will it cost to get the front end resprayed after it's covered in stonechips from the HGV? :stuck_out_tongue:

Remember: travelling 50 miles at 56mph will take 53minutes. At 70mph it's 42minutes. But that extra 10 minutes is ~25% decreased fuel usage. Slipstream a HGV and you will decrease that fuel usage by ~25% which can save you around £2 for 10 minutes. (Figures based on a vehicle which does 54mpg at 70mph) If you are paid £12+ p/h, that extra 10 minutes isn't worth your time, if you are paid under, than you are :smile:

LOL, I read somewhere that said some drivers accumulated over 50 penalty points and are still allowed to drive. So what good are those 'refresher' tests?

I am still very proud, language barrier, wrong side of the road... happy as larry lol

It's got so bad that I find the inside lane is the fastest. Middle lane full as you noted and outside lane full of people in a hurry so using the 'fast' lane. I can't wait until computers do the driving, humans can't be trusted.

On some hilly motorways, M1 in Yorkshire for example, when fully loaded I struggle to get 40mph going up. Other HGV's need to overtake me, they need the middle lane.
Some companies, Wincanton Container units, for example, are limited to 52mph. I can do 56 on a flat road and I'd need to overtake Mr Wincanton and for that I need the middle lane.
Don't hog the middle lane, let HGV's out.
Don't forget, everything is delivered by a lorry at some point. Without us your shops would be empty and your Schools without furniture and books.

...... And this comment just sums up the arrogance of lane hoggers.

You are aware that middle lane hogging carries a £100 on the spot fine fine now?

I find them to be the most considerate of all drivers out there. If there was a space then they are entitled to use it but they do give adequate notice most of the time, so I don't see the issue...just drop a cog and nip up the "fast" lane. They are often hauling heavy loads, which is going to be difficult to accelerate again on hills.

Some people are like magpies, can't help but stare at their Rolex than look at the road.

Everyone knows there's always a shop window to look at when you can't see into a bend...duh! Do you even drive bro!? :sunglasses:

I appreciate half the comments are trolling for responses as they are sad little people, if not complete morons !!!!

You are 100% correct ,you have not studied anything .The only thing between you and the road is your tyres..Not knowing they could be illegal and a deathtrap is inexcusable ,not to mention possible 3 points per corner if they are indeed illegal.And no you can't simply click at everything in a real life test.
Unbelievable.

So your the driver doing 70 /75 in the middle lane ..The limit is 70 not 75 ,it's a limit not a invitation to speed at 70/75 irrespective of conditions,and if you can do 75 in middle lane with our congestion you definitely need the above training.I presume you also decide to pull right in front of a lgv just before your junction because they have left a gap for safe braking distance and you think it's for your convenience and if as a result of braking right in front of a 44 ton wagon it hits you in the rear then it's the wagons fault for not stopping in time ...That's if your still alive to tell the tale.

Isn't that just tarring everyone with the same brush though? And I agree with the latter part of your comment

Not really necessary, I passed yesterday without studying anything. The majority of answers are obvious and you don't need to know the tyre tread etc because you can get 7 out of 50 wrong and still pass. Also the hazard perception is a joke, just click everything that could develop into a hazard and you pass easily. I clicked every car, pedestrian, junction etc since you don't lose any marks for incorrect clicks

Cracking deal, highly recommended to anyone with an Audi.

Have you actually read the highway code? I'm not trying to be a dick, but that's all you actually need to do. Most people don't seem to bother then get upset when they don't pass.

Do that and keep doing the practise tests till you get 100% all the time.

A much better result than you by the looks of it.

Passed my test 33 years ago

got 44 out of 50.

Most of it is plain common sense

Errrr mine can do 56 so there.
I look down at car drivers on the phone all the time. Texting as well.

I know, I nearly bit too :smile:

please tell me why u need to know where to put yr valuables in a car to pass yr driving test!!

Great freebie for
Newbies or anyone wanting to top up their knowledge

Wait, so revving the engine to make them move faster isn't the right answer?! That's where I've been going wrong all these years!

But don't you hate those other 'youths' who slowly stroll across the road, acting as if they own it, purposely making you slow down or come to a complete stop...

But it's much safer to just stay in the middle lane. The slow lane is full of lorries and the fast lane has people driving at silly speeds so the middle lane is where it's at for most people. If you sit at 70 in the middle lane all the time then it doesn't upset anyone

I find lgv drivers are the worst 55 mph on the motorway see a space in the second lane and just pull out into it without any consideration for the car thats doing 70 - 75 mph and fast approaching, forcing it to move over or brake.

So is this an accurate example of today's theory test then? I passed 28 years ago, when they flicked a note pad over to show you road sign examples lol tried this and passed at 48/50. My 13 year old also tried it and passed with 44/50. :astonished:

You used the words 'van driver'. Didn't need to add the far from perfect part :innocent:

I used to do a lot of driving as a job. Still drive every day. People need to change their attitudes and incorporate the fact they're driving a tonne of killing machine around.

Mandatory refreshers should be introduced. Tests like this will hopefully help those realise they need to.

passed yeah......

45 out of 50, thought the shop window question was a bit odd.

When I did my test the theory 'test' was the examiner showing you a couple of road sign flash cards at the end of the test if you had passed the sight test and driving.

However somehow I still got 49 in less than 10 mins - who knew that the age to supervise a learner driver had been raised to 21? Serious point though, laws do change, shouldn't the dvla write to all licence holders to let them know - not every minor change gets tv publicity.

You should pass your driving with a grade, like in traditional education, and your grade would affect the cost of your insurance. That'd significantly improve driving standards, as people have a financial incentive not just to scrape a pass but pass well, because let's be fair, avoiding potentially killing others isn't a reason to drive well for a lot of poeple on the roads today.

11 years later and 46/50 - pretty happy with that. Good share!

Too many bellends driving on the motorways cutting ppl up etc. I'm a van driver and see it way too often. Not only that but inconsiderate drivers not pulling over from the outside lane on motorways. I'm far from perfect but I do try utmost to be sensible and drive carefully. I see crash after crash, it's scary to think I could be the next victim due to carelessness of other drivers

Some of the questions are:

just ridiculous
what arm signals should you give (not relevant anymore).

nothing to do with driving:
someone is injured and not breathing (common sense and first aid courses).

pure common sense:
what should I do if a lorry is coming at me during a turn (slow down).
what should I do if an old lady is still crossing the road (slow down).
what should I do if a vehicle has their hazards on (slow the **** down!!!).

Get the hint!

Yes I know a lot of road users are not considerate and lack common sense but come on. The only question I actually had to think on was the speed you're allowed to go whilst towing on a single carriageway and that wasn't difficult after five seconds!

50/50 in 12 minutes FTR which I was quite happy with. 14 Seconds per question and I am a slow reader.

This ABSOLUTELY should be compulsory for all drivers ,especially company car drivers and van drivers.I earn a living as a lgv driver and we have to have 35 hours of training for a certificate of professional competence every 5 years.Without it you cant drive .The standard of driving my dash cam records EVERY day is simply appalling.Without compulsory training this will just get worse.The main offenders like above don't own the vehicles so don't give a toss about smashing it up and don't realise the carnage they leave behind.Dash cams are now fitted in our fleet without exception.

And bad drivers cause more than stitches.

Is it only for learners? I'd like to take my chances.

Damn I failed - 42 out of 50! Arm signals are out of date...I tend to wave to people to cross :-P

I feel normal drivers should have to retake test every X years...because there are some proper rubbish ones out there...what rickj said!

44/50 PASS! - I cant even drive and last passed my theory in 1998! never bothered with taking the practical as never really needed a car - still chuffed though!

47 out of 50. Happy with that :smile:

But the I decided returning to biking after two years on a cbt isn't for me at the moment. The roads are getting worst and I don't want to be sliding across the floor or plummeting into the side of someone because they don't look for anything smaller than a big metal box coming towards them

I did this recently for bikers. A good selection of questions tbf. Definitely worth using

I took the theory test again last year. Got 100% which I think was better than when I was 17 so it's good to know I'm not getting worse with old age.

My mother on the other hand, who has been driving for more than 50 years still asks me what certain road signs mean. Scary.

It was always free there. They advertised now to attract more learners. But hazard tests videos for purchase.