Everybody who has a license passed it – the driving test. Some passed their first test, some passed their fifth. The common thing about everyone is that they made mistakes. For sure. There is no perfect driver, and as a result no perfect driving.
However, some mistakes repeat more than others. Examiners keep telling students about their mistakes, but with no hope – students still make the same old silly mistakes. Those mistakes are easy to avoid if you know what you do.
One big mistake is not making complete stops. Many students “roll” through the intersection without completely stopping at the limit line. This is more serious on right turns on red light. Many students forget to make a complete stop and just slow down, make sure traffic is clear, and continue. This is wrong and fails many students. Not to mention it is highly illegal, and when driving alone it can award the non-stopper with a big fine.
Another problem students have is lane changes. In theory, going from one lane to another is the easiest mission on earth: you signal, check that the area is clear, and move into the lane you want. For some people it is not very easy, and they often reach a situation of a near-accident. This, of course, is an automatic fail.
Lack of confidence and over-caution are two reasons that also fail many applicants. They tend to think that if they drive under the speed limit, they are safe. There is nothing further from the truth. Slow driving is a critical error, an error that means an automatic fail. Also, if the examiner tells a student too shy to take his turn on a stop sign what to do, the test is also over.
The key to avoid all these mistakes is practice. The old cliche, “Practice makes perfect”, is the best advice for driving and learning to drive.