- Hi there, smart drivers,
Rick from Smart Drive Test talking to you tonight
about frequently asked questions,
the questions I get asked on a regular basis,
and giving you those questions
so that you don't fail your driver's test
and you pass first time.
Stick around, we'll be right back with that information.
(upbeat music)
So frequently asked questions,
these are the questions I get asked all the time.
You know, there's lots of stuff
that's in the driver's handbook,
and it doesn't translate into what happens
in terms of what happens in the real world.
So your turns are too wide,
one of the things you need to do
if your turns are too wide,
or you're having difficulty navigating roads,
mountain passes where your curvy roads
and you're hanging over the side of the mountain
and those types of things,
slow speed maneuvers.
Go back to the slow speed maneuvers,
and the slow speed maneuvers will help you out
in terms of being able to have
better control of the vehicle on the roadway
at higher speeds and those types of things.
The thing with slow speed maneuvers
as it says here on the slide
is that it will allow you to focus
on one thing without all of the other traffic around you,
so you can focus
on getting better control of the steering wheel
in combination with the throttle
and in combination with the brake.
Steering wheel control,
do you have to do hand over hand
or do you have to do hand to hand?
Most places in North America,
it's hand over hand.
There are some places in Europe
and some driving instructors that will insist
that you have to do hand to hand,
and I've heard all kinds of reasons for this.
One of them for not doing hand over hand
is because the air bag deploying
in the event of a crash
and that you're going to have forearm damage.
The other reason some driving examiners
and driving instructors believe
that should never have your hands away from the wheel,
and even with hand over hand,
you always have one hand in contact with the wheel.
So know that.
Freeway merging, how do I merge onto a freeway
in bumper-to-bumper traffic,
in terms of frequently asked questions?
You simply get out on the ramp,
you match the speed of the traffic
on the highway or freeway or interstate,
and you signal, you get out there,
and you put your signal on,
and you move to the left,
left of your lane without going out of your lane.
The other piece with this is pick your gap
before you get out on the freeway or interstate.
That's going to make it a lot easier for you.
So pick your spot, signal,
when you get out on the acceleration lane,
hug that left side of the lane
and keep your signal on.
As long as you have your signal on,
eventually somebody is going to let you in
on the freeway.
What is the speed tolerance limit?
If you are that much away from the speed limit,
either over or under,
unfortunately you're not going to be successful
on your driver's test.
You have to be within two or three miles an hour
or you have to be within three to five kilometers an hour
of the posted speed limit,
unless traffic is backed up or there's congestion
or the traffic flow is a lot lower
than the posted speed limit.
Because if you're just too much,
probably five kilometers an hour,
five miles an hour,
once you get that far under the speed limit,
you're not going to be successful on your driver's test.
The new video this week
was how to research a car.
And as I said in the video,
yes, money is going to be your first hurdle,
how much money do you have, can you buy a vehicle?
First thing you need to consider
when you're buying a vehicle,
know that if you finance the vehicle,
your insurance is going to be more,
because when you have financing on a vehicle,
you have to put collision insurance on your vehicle,
which means if you crack the vehicle up,
you smash it up,
that your insurance is going to pay to have it repaired.
That's just a requirement that you have to have
in terms of the financing.
So say, for example, without collision,
your insurance is going to be $1,500 a year.
As you soon as you put collision insurance on a vehicle,
your insurance is now $3,000 a year,
because collision is twice as much money
as what your public liability
and property damage is going to be
for buying a vehicle.
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Click up in the corner here,
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and we'll see you then.
Shoulder checking, you have to shoulder check
both left and both right
every time you're turning the vehicle,
every time you're moving the vehicle sideways,
every time that you are changing lanes.
And the reason that you're shoulder checking left
is that you're looking for other road users,
people on scooters, on motorcycles.
So you must shoulder check left
and as well, after you get your license,
keep this habit.
Left turn position, where do I stop in an intersection
to make a left-hand turn?
We teach put your front steer tires
on the front crosswalk line.
That way you're committed to the intersection,
but you're not in the intersection
in case something goes wrong.
So I advocate this all the time,
and, as well, it gives you more speed
to reduce the amount of time
that you are in the crosshairs
of the oncoming traffic.
So this is where you stay for the position
for your left-hand turns.
After turning left,
you have to move back to the right lane.
Every state, every province
has the regulatory sign that says
unless passing, stay right,
and this is what this means.
After you make a left-hand turn
on a multi-lane road,
you have to move back to the right immediately
without the driving examiner telling you that.
And if you're coming from one lane into two lanes,
you've got to put your signal on,
mirror, signal, shoulder check,
and move into the right-hand lane.
You cannot drive in that left-hand lane,
because if you drive in that left-hand lane for too long,
driving examiners are going to assign you
10 or 15 demerits.
Backing, can you use a backup camera?
Corey'll put the video up for you on backup cameras.
You can use a backup camera,
but you cannot use it as your primary line of sight.
You can glance at it as you would your mirrors,
but when you're backing up,
you must look out through the back window
for the purposes of reversing.
And then pause, check your mirrors again,
check your backup camera,
do a 360-degree scan around your vehicle,
and then proceed.
Signal, three-point turn.
Yes, you must signal on three-point turns.
You must signal every time you reverse the vehicle,
every time you change directions.
And where most students get into trouble with signaling
is when they leave the parking lot of the DMV,
they don't signal left or right
when they drive to of the parking lot.
The other counsel that I give
to drivers who are showing up for a driver's test,
make sure that you back into the parking space.
That way it's going to be a lot easier
for you to get started.
Remember, you want to start strong,
you want to finish strong.
That's how you do that
for the purposes of your driver's test.
So make sure that you're signaling.
Parallel parking, if you hit the curb,
yes, you will fail.
If you knock the examiner out of his or her seat,
you will not pass your driver's test.
But if you touch the curb and readjust
and have a pull-up,
you will only be assigned demerits,
you won't fail your driver's test.
But yes, if you do strike the curb,
it's an automatic fail on a driver's test.
Goose, perhaps you've got some insights into that
about how Ontario is going to catch up
with the backlog that they're dealing with
in terms of driver's tests there in that province,
and, as well, many of the states are now opening up as well.
Many of the states are moving away
from the closed-circuit testing that they were doing
at the height of COVID,
and I'm going to do a coupla videos for you
on what that driver's test will look like
post-COVID days.
And I'm telling you, for most of you,
this isn't just for those of you in the United States,
that isn't just for those of you in Canada,
that you need to be even more prepared for your test now
because you are not going to be having
the luxury of the amount of time.
You're not going to have 15 to 20 minutes
for your driver's test.
You are going to have 8 to 10 minutes,
and you're going to have to hit the ground running.
You're going to have to be good off the top.
So let's clarify something
about the parking brake and the emergency brake.
Most drivers call the parking brake the emergency brake.
The parking brake and the emergency brake
or one and the same thing.
The reason they're called two different things
is that when you park the vehicle,
it's a parking brake.
In the event of an emergency,
in the very unlikely event
that the brakes on your vehicle fail,
then you're going to use as an emergency brake,
as your backup.
So it's probably never in your lifetime
will you ever use the emergency brake
to bring the vehicle to a stop.
However, when you park the vehicle,
it's now a parking brake,
and you're going to use it every time you park the vehicle.
Even after you get your license,
I do strongly advocate for all of you
who have newer vehicles
that the parking brake applies automatically,
do it anyway,
because you're going to get in an older vehicle
that it doesn't apply,
so you just get in the habit of applying the parking brake.
That way your vehicle's going to be there
when you come back to get it (laughs)
after a period of time, okay?
Dave, taking my test on Friday,
just wondering if you have to shoulder check
on every turn, every green light.
Dave, yes you do, every time you turn the vehicle,
every time you move the vehicle sideways,
every time that you are changing lanes,
shoulder check, shoulder check, shoulder check,
two times every time, okay?
Tayo, how do traffic circles work,
like, depending on where I turn,
which way do I signal, it's very confusing.
So whichever way you're going to go, Tayo.
So if you're going to go straight through,
you don't have to signal.
If you're going to turn right, then signal right.
If you're going to go left, then signal left.
It's that simple.
Just think of it like a conventional intersection.
Try not to get too crazy about roundabouts,
because I know it's a little bit weird.
So if you're going to turn right,
you're going to take the first exit, right?
If you're going to turn left,
you're going to take the third exit.
And if you're going to do a U-turn,
then you're going to come around and take the fourth exit.
It's that simple.
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leave a comment down in the Comment section.
We'll do what we can to help you out
to get a license and those types of things.
So if you passed your license in the last couple of weeks,
congratulations on that.
All the best,
and if you got a test coming up this week,
good luck on that,
and remember, pick the best answer,
not necessarily the right answer.
Have a great night, bye now.