>> The omens for him are not very good
Not very good for us if he ever passes... :)
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He must be incredibly stupid. Out of interest a few months ago I tried taking the online test, and passed simply by making intelligent guesses. I hadn't prepared for it or taken any conscious steps to update my knowledge.
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The headline said ".......... spends £3000 ...........", the article started off saying " .......... nearly £3000 ........." and later it said "........ a whopping £2852 .........". With all the different figures I was too bored to read the full article.
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I've met a couple of drivers recently who obviously didn't understand road signs.
One was driving towards me on the wrong side of the road in the entrance to a car park because they thought it should be one way.
The other didn't understand 'give way to oncoming traffic' but seemed incapable of reversing out of the pinch point after I'd screeched to a stop just in front of them.
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There should be a limit, with the practical too, as to how many times in a year that anyone can take the test(s). No matter what wailing there is from the frequent failers, the tests aren't all that difficult and if you can't, when you have advance warning and plenty of preparation time, get yourself through them, then do something else.
I really don't want to be sharing the road with someone so feeble minded that when fully coached and prepared they cant acheive a basic pass.
The licence should be hard won, not seen as an entitlement.
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I'm inclined to think there should be a lifetime limit on how many attempts you get at the practical and theory tests.
To pass the test you need only produce an acceptable drive while the examiner is watching, no matter how dire you've been while under instruction.
Some years ago I worked as a motorcycle instructor, and watched amazed as a pupil who'd defied my best attempts to improve their riding for a week fluked an adequate performance in front of the man with the clip board.
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>> The other didn't understand 'give way to oncoming traffic' but seemed incapable of reversing out
>> of the pinch point after I'd screeched to a stop just in front of them.
Incomprehesion or bad manners?
Going to town or the motorway from home involves a narrow bridge over the Nene. Outbound the road runs parallel to the river with a blind left turn onto bridge. There is a prominent 'bottleneck' sign and a plate warning of oncoming traffic.
Unless you're a large vehicle common sense says slow down, tuck in and creep/peep until you can see onto bridge.
Yet at least one in five just barge on confidently and look surprised/offended when they oncoming traffic and have to go back.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Tue 24 Jan 12 at 13:51
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M'sieur l'Escargot - you're getting very pedantic. If everyone was so meticulous about accurate and consistent reporting no-one would read the tabloids and we know they exist to provide the great British public with what they want.
So you're out of step - get used to it. :-))
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Tue 24 Jan 12 at 12:57
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>> M'sieur l'Escargot - you're getting very pedantic. If everyone was so meticulous about accurate and
>> consistent reporting no-one would read the tabloids and we know they exist to provide the
>> great British public with what they want.
>>
>> So you're out of step - get used to it. :-))
>>
We gastropods don't step, we slither. And as Roy Jay used to say "Slither, Spook, you'll all be doing it tomorrow."!
:-D
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Exams, including a driving test, are designed to be passed. The essentials are that you are suitably qualified to take the course (i.e of more or less normal intellect, coordination and eyesight), and you have been properly trained or have studied appropriately.
If after that you fail repeatedly, allowing that there is a random element in the driving practical, something is wrong.
This person should be given a lifetime fail, sadly. The theory test is laughably basic.
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As Manatee says the test is pretty easy. Bromp J is about to book his and had little trouble with examples from a practice CD.
IIRC there's also plenty of help available for those with Special Needs so issues like dyslexia shouldn't be a bar.
Article fails to make clear whether it's the multi choice or hazard perception that's being failed.
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Listen chaps: people who can't pass the driving test are no problem at all. The ones who pose constant problems and make the roads randomly dangerous are the ones who have passed the test, or anyway at least half of them.
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Limiting the number of tests someone can take could have unintended and dangerous consequences. There is already a significant problem with professional impersonators taking both theory and practical tests on someone's behalf, this is a practice that would have a vastly increased market when people are coming to the limit of their allocated quota.
Better to have the incompetents keep failing than getting their licence without any test at all.
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I never did statistics at school, but given a pass mark of 43 out of 50, after 92 attempts it must be close to the point where random guessing would've given a better chance of passing.
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When I went to school, multiple choice exams were in their infancy.
Someone I knew did a A level mock multiple choice in a subject he wasn't doing and knew nothing about. He got over 50% right just by guessing and using his head.
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>> Someone I knew did a A level mock multiple choice in a subject he wasn't
>> doing and knew nothing about. He got over 50% right just by guessing and using
>> his head.
Most pupils did a broad curriculum to 14 and in many grammars O levels were required to include a language and a humanity even with mainly science option set. So he probably knew more than he let on when he used his head.
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So flipping long ago now, but I know the guinea pig was chosen as someone who had as little background knowledge as possible. As fair as a bunch of sixth-formers could be anyway!
In theory, one designs a multiple choice exam so that one of 'nearly' answers is the sort of thing one would choose by guessing.
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Sorry SP I didn't mean that to sound like a challenge. Observing the Theory test with Bromp J suggests your second para is closely followed.
One answer is rubbish, another is plausible at a glance but wrong with a few seconds thought. The other two are right and nearly right. Those requiring two right answers can catch the unwary.
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Correct me if I'm wrong please, but unless the theory test is passed you can't drive.... well at least not unaccompanied.
If this bloke is as thick as the article suggests, he won't be getting behind the wheel solo any time yet.
Result. Let him blow his money how he likes.
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Can a dyslexic type, or an illiterate, apply to do the test orally?
Because of our past here, many folk are illiterate, so are given the option.
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>> Can a dyslexic type, or an illiterate, apply to do the test orally?
>> Because of our past here, many folk are illiterate, so are given the option.
>>
Knowing the British obsession with disabled rights, it wouldn't surprise me at all to find it could be done in Braille! ;-)
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colino summed it up when he used the word 'entitlement'.
sorry chap, but if you can't grasp the basic principles - ie, you have to study and comprehend what is being presented, and think how this applies in a real-world situation, you obviously haven't got the skills to make decisions.
So I don't want you on the road.
All the excuses in the world can be used, but it boils down to one thing - he ain't good enough!
driving also involves confidence - this guy may get nervous when confronted by the test, so how would he react if there was an unexpected situation ahead of him on the road?
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>> Knowing the British obsession with disabled rights, it wouldn't surprise me at all to find
>> it could be done in Braille! ;-)
I spent last weekend in West Yorkshire, whence I came about 20 years ago. I think the roads are in Braille, they're in an appalling state.
But they still seem to have the money for a forest of idiotic signs, build-outs, speed cameras, and endless white paint for cycle boxes and painting "SLOW" in the road every 200m. Wild horses wouldn't get me back there.
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Hmm...a little thread-drifty thought experiment occurs to me.
A tabloid newspaper reports a rare and apparently bizarre occurrence. Some readers react by demanding a change in the rules to prevent such absurdities. Others then point out that this is an isolated occurrence and that a change would have unintended and unwelcome consequences.
Now, am I thinking of the occasional person who fails a lot of theory tests? Or the occasional family that receives a large amount of housing benefit? And when does it become OK to set general policy based on rare, extreme cases?
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The whole idea of any policy is that it should set an acceptable limit. Failing a driving test an excessive number of times indicates a lack of basic ability, but not a lack of willingness. Failing to get of one's 'arris to support one's fifteen screaming kids indicates bone idleness and a total contempt for ones fellow citizens, which is deservedly reciptocated by those of us who have to watch them wasting their lives.
Your analogy is somewhat skewed since it fails to take into account the simple fact that driving theory tests are at least being failed by someone who's trying to better themselves at their own expense, not trying to subsidise themselves at the public's.
Last edited by: Harleyman on Wed 25 Jan 12 at 09:08
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Failing to get of [sic] one's 'arris to support one's fifteen screaming kids indicates bone idleness...
Thank you, HM - you've illustrated my point perfectly.
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What's the problem? surely the test is doing its job in keeping the clearly unsuitable off the road?
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>> What's the problem? surely the test is doing its job in keeping the clearly unsuitable
>> off the road?
>>
Zero, that's the problem.
the bloke has had 92 stabs at it so far, what if he passes through some chance on his 93rd?
Does this mean that he'll be able to do the right thing 1 out of 93 times whilst on the road, faced with a difficult situation/something he doesn't understand?
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What if failure has made him learn and improve?
Its only one part of a test, if he flukes the 93rd out of 93 he is not going to fluke the other real part now is he.
I say the test is doing its job.
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He'd still have to pass a driving test, Ian - i.e. convince an examiner that he can put the theory into practice. If he still hasn't really learned that 'sound your horn', 'rev your engine' and 'accelerate hard to pass the junction before the light turns from amber to red' are wrong answers, what do you reckon his chances would be?
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>> Thank you, HM - you've illustrated my point perfectly.
>>
Do please explain why a simple typographical error should do that. For the record I don't use a spell checker but with the small default font on here I suppose really ought to put my specs on.
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It wasn't the typo, HM (it was petty of me to highlight that - sorry). It was the conviction that a few extreme cases sensationalized by newspapers were, in fact, an accurate representation of the benefit situation as a whole. That sort of thing makes governments produce crowd-pleasing gimmicks that hurt real, vulnerable people, and you are encouraging that by providing the crowd. That is the point you illustrated for me.
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That is the point you illustrated for me.
>>
Fair enough. I can only speak as I find, and here's a potted history of what I've found. In a previous life I was a single parent in a former mining community. After my life went upside-down, I dragged myself back up and eventually bought my first house in 1999, a former council semi on what would politely (but not accurately) be described as a white working-class estate. Prior to the latter I rented a share in a house in the "ethnic" quarter of Derby. So I can truthfully say I've seen deprivation first-hand, both as a "victim" and as an observer.
My observations would seem to inform me that what you think are the minority are in fact the norm. The benefits system is in need of a radical overhaul to stop it being abused by people who've been brought up to believe that a life on the dole is a positive choice. That abuse is both condoned and encouraged by slack practice in council administration, and by the reluctance of politicians to stay the course and not water down their proposals to appease the bleeding hearts.
This part of the crowd has no sympathy with dossers. Simple as that.
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Answers of a brilliant student who obtained 0%.
I would have given him 100%.....!!
Q: In which battle did Napoleon die? A: His last battle.
Q: Where was the Declaration of Independence signed? A: At the bottom of the page.
Q: River Ravi flows in which state? A: Liquid.
Q: What is the main reason for divorce? A: Marriage.
Q: What can you never eat for breakfast? A: Lunch & Dinner.
Q: What is the main reason for failure? A: Exams.
Q: What looks like half an apple? A: The other half.
Q: If you throw a red stone into a blue sea what will it become? A: Wet.
Q: How can a man go eighty days without sleeping? A: By sleeping at night.
Q: How can you lift an elephant with one hand? A: You will never find an elephant that has only one hand.
Q: If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in the other hand, what would you have? A: Very large hands.
Q: If it took 6 men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it? A: No time at all, since the wall has already been built.
Q: How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it? A: Very easily, since concrete floors are very hard to crack.
Q: What is most commonly found in cells? A: Illegal Immigrants
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The first question is a trick one. We all know that the answer to the first question is that you should only have one hand on the wheel
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Oh dear, I got number 3 wrong:
3 When can you make a left turn at a red light?
A Never.
B When turning from a one-way street onto another one-way street.
C When turning from a two-way street onto a one-way street.
B. and C. are correct.
I presume it's not a British site?
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'License' and 'center' might have told you that.
}:---)
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The clue was "perhaps he is looking at this site"
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This lady has been mentioned before. Failed practical driving test 771 times
www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,488436,00.html
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This fellow who's failed his theory test 92 times...I think I might have met him.
Two weeks ago my wife gave birth and was in the maternity unit for 24 hours. The visiting time for partner's only is 1000am to 12 noon. Anyone can visit between 2pm and 8pm.
This info is told to you by the midwives, is written on the wall at the entrance and the switchboard staff will tell you.
I turned up at 1015am and got a fierce look for being late (but that's another story), meanwhile the young chavette in the next bed had no one turn up........until 1150am, when in walks Mr Spanner...who then proceeds to argue with the nursing staff that he doesn't wish to leave at 12 as he's just turned up...and it's their fault, because he was told to turn up at 'ten to twelve'????.......rather than what he would have been told i.e. come any time between ten until twelve.
My missus kept glaring at me for my sniggering....what a clown.
To start off with I thought it was funny...but then it sank in...these people are amongst us, they vote, they sit on juries, some of them even get to drive. How depressing.
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>> To start off with I thought it was funny...but then it sank in...these people are
>> amongst us, they vote, they sit on juries, some of them even get to drive.
>> How depressing.
You are the dumb one, it hasn't occurred to you the worse part is they have procreated...
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>> the worse part is they have procreated...
Tend to agree, it's not going to aid the gene pool is it.
By the way, i'm impressed with the speed you picked up the scowly face.
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>> >> the worse part is they have procreated...
>>
>> Tend to agree, it's not going to aid the gene pool is it.
>>
>> By the way, i'm impressed with the speed you picked up the scowly face.
Wow, yeah. Is that a record?
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>> Wow, yeah. Is that a record?
Oh do stop crowing Zero. You're not the only proto-villain round here you know. Others too have distinguished gong collections.
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I use to think like that but then I got round to realising that all the real trouble in the world is caused by the supposedly bright people and not the dumb ones. I don't suppose Mr Spanner headed a merchant bank.
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>> real trouble in the world is caused by the supposedly bright people and not the dumb ones. I don't suppose Mr Spanner headed a merchant bank.
No one supposes that bankers are 'bright' CGN. Everyone knows they are money-grubbers with very high boredom thresholds.
I'm a bit surprised by Westpig's story too. The geezer might easily have been given the impression that he should turn up at ten to twelve, if those words were spoken to him in a hurried telephone call. Still if the guy made a fuss in the ward he may not have been the best sort of person.
Congratulations on the new nipper Westpig.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Wed 25 Jan 12 at 18:06
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>>Congratulations on the new nipper Westpig.
+1 Haven't you just retired?
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>> +1 Haven't you just retired?
>>
Aye. I'm a slow starter.
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>> >>Congratulations on the new nipper Westpig.
>>
>> +1 Haven't you just retired?
>>
+ another 1
You might enjoy this item.
community.babycentre.co.uk/post/a7750565/laurie_lee_will_make_you_cry...
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>> Congratulations on the new nipper Westpig.
>>
Thank you...little girl. I've got the shotgun on order.
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>>Thank you...little girl. I've got the shotgun on order.
There's got to be a joke here about not firing blanks?
;>)
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>Thank you...little girl. I've got the shotgun on order.
Congratulations WP!
You won't get a license for that shotgun though. I've just sent a collection of your posts to the local FEO ;-o
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>> little girl. I've got the shotgun on order.
Is she your first Westpig, or does she have big siblings ready to teach her football?
If she is your first, don't worry if she seems to look like Churchill. They often do for a week or two even sometimes to their parents. Only a few are cute from the off, but the others soon catch up.
All my descendants are girls, eight so far. Haven't needed the shotgun for anyone else yet, although I have once or twice had dramatic thoughts of turning it on myself. The thought of the mess on the ceiling always put me off. They may seem a bit undeserving sometimes, but they don't deserve that.
(I'm very fond of them all really).
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>> Is she your first Westpig, or does she have big siblings ready to teach her
>> football?
>>
>> If she is your first, don't worry if she seems to look like Churchill. They
>> often do for a week or two even sometimes to their parents. Only a few
>> are cute from the off, but the others soon catch up.
She has a 4 year old brother...who can't stop giving her big hugs and kisses...which is somewhat 'warming' to an old misery like me.
You're right about the Churchill bit......and i've even seen the cigar, but less said about that the better.
The women all gang up, midwives, wife, friends etc...they all say she looks like me. I just can't see it myself...but you have to go along with these things.
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I'll take sides with Mr Spanner.
It's the stupidity of the person who told him to come at 10 to 12 that caused the problem. If it was his first visit, he could hardly have seen the notices, and those who work there and aren't as befuddled as a new father might be, should know better than to issue vague instructions.
I keep telling my wife (in a very quiet voice) that if she wants me to follow directions she must be clear and precise.
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"I keep telling my wife (in a very quiet voice) that if she wants me to follow directions she must be clear and precise."
No problem here with precision just, timing "You needed to take the last exit"
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Ten until twelve might have been clearer - then he'd have turned up at 10 at night!
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He turned up to see his new born baby, as he thought bang on time.
So what happens at 12 noon then that means he can't be there?
Does the hospital ward turn into a Tardis?
Pat
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>> Does the hospital ward turn into a Tardis?
12 till 2: lunch, pills, blood pressure checks etc. Not all hospitals throw visitors out during these events, especially not spouses/partners.
But the layers of managers hospitals used to get along perfectly well without often justify their large and wasteful salaries by trying to impose clacking jobsworth-style quasi-military discipline on the sick and suffering, and on those who are trying to feed and cure them.
Carphounds. Thatcher's children.
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Just the sort of stupid rules that are asking to be challenged...and I can never resist it!
Pat
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>> >> Does the hospital ward turn into a Tardis?
>>
>> 12 till 2: lunch, pills, blood pressure checks etc. Not all hospitals throw visitors out
>> during these events, especially not spouses/partners.
>>
>> But the layers of managers hospitals used to get along perfectly well without often justify
>> their large and wasteful salaries by trying to impose clacking jobsworth-style quasi-military discipline on the
>> sick and suffering, and on those who are trying to feed and cure them.
>>
>> Carphounds. Thatcher's children.
You seem to have missed out a whole chunk of nursing and Hospitals there AC. In the old days they really were hotbeds of clacking jobsworth-style quasi-military discipline. Woe betide anyone (inc patients) who broke the numerous rules, and visitors - like the strict 60 minutes once a day visiting times.
Most Ward sisters were trained in Tenko style management techniques. Its all much more laid back now.
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Anybody who has been in hospital will know the highlight of the day is when they finally throw out all the visitors.
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>> Ward sisters were trained in Tenko style management techniques.
Yes, I seem to remember them although in fact until about 20 years ago I hadn't been to hospital except for brisk small interventions, just a visit for an hour or so, since my tonsils in the forties. I've had two quite serious things since then, one possibly life-threatening, and I have no complaints at all. I may be overstating a bit as one so easily does in these circumstances.
However, I have it in for 'managers' who aren't medics and it will take a lot to convince me that their salaries are anything but waste. Since they arrived costs have mushroomed but output doesn't seem to have.
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Comrade Spanner may suffer from ADD or ASD.
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He may well be far better at practical things than theory, and it doesn't mean he wouldn't make a very good driver either.
I've come across two colleagues that I've worked with for years, both with 30+ yrs of lorry driving under their belt, who can't read.
I never knew until I came to train them, and both chose to confide in me as the less embarrassing option.
Hat's off to them, there was no theory test when they learned their trade and I would be proud to be even a little bit as good as they are.
Pat
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He failed the theory test 92 times. - Focusless
