- Hi there, smart drivers.
Rick with Smart Drive Test talking to you tonight
about how to pass your driver's test, what you need to do,
what the steps are to be successful
and be smarter in studying to pass your driver's test.
Stick around. We'll be right back with that information.
(upbeat music)
So pass your driver's test first time,
that's what we're talking about tonight.
Skills, techniques and strategies
you need to be successful on your driver's test here.
First thing you need to do for your driver's test
is you need to get a learner's test.
And most places will have the GDL,
the graduated licensing program,
or the GLP, graduated licensing program,
which it is called in Ontario and other places in Canada,
but in the States, it's called the GDL.
You have to write a knowledge test.
It consists of 50 multiple choice questions
of which you have to get 80%.
So you have to get 40 of the 50 correct to pass the test.
Signs, signals, road markings,
right-of-way rules, attitudes,
all kinds of questions that are in your driver's handbook.
I highly recommend to you not to read the driver's handbook
from cover to cover.
It is boring and written by bureaucrats, okay?
Going to the website or onto the internet,
search for online practice driving test questions,
do those, figure out the gaps in your knowledge.
When you know what the gaps in your knowledge are,
go back to the driver's manual.
Look those sections up that you don't know,
and then go back and do the test.
When you're getting 80 to 90% consistently on the test,
then you're ready to go into the DMV
and write your knowledge test.
You're also going to have to know terminology,
things like painted island,
two-way stop signs, four-way stop signs,
those types of things, et cetera,
et cetera, et cetera, right-of-way.
And what is the driving task?
There are four components to any driver's test:
speed management, space management,
observation, and communication.
But speed management is basically you have
to do the posted speed limit or this,
the posted speed limit or with the flow of traffic,
whichever is less.
Space management, if you're not near anything,
it's less likely that you're going to hit something.
You must have a following distance
of two to three seconds minimum in a car.
Stop at the correct stopping position
at controlled intersections,
and you must stop in a queue of traffic or a line of traffic
so that you can see the tires of the vehicle
in front of you making clear contact with the pavement.
You must communicate effectively as well.
Communication includes lights and signals, your horn.
Use it sparingly. (truck horn beeps)
Eye contact, use hand gestures.
If another driver isn't being careful of what you're doing,
use all five fingers if you're communicating,
and then the position of the road user
on or near the roadway,
because if there's a pedestrian standing near the crosswalk,
there's a high probability
that they're going to cross the road.
If a vehicle is in the left turning lane,
there's a high probability that they're going to turn left.
So position of the vehicle.
Learn faster.
If you're practicing for your on-road test,
one of the things you need to do for your on-road test
is you have to have your learners for a minimum of a year
or 180 days, depending on where you are,
which state you're in, which jurisdiction.
But if you're practicing for your on-road test,
you want to become a safer, smarter driver,
and you want to learn faster
and improve your overall driving,
focus on these slow speed maneuvers,
which can be a requirement of your driver's test.
Parallel parking is required in 47 of the 50 states.
There's only three states that do not require you
to parallel park.
That is California, Maryland, and Ohio.
And each of them have their own maneuvers,
which are different.
Three point turn, stall parking,
which is backing into a parking space.
Every test has backing into a parking space.
So know that you must do that.
Two-point reverse turn,
which means basically you're backing around a corner,
and you may have to do a U-turn.
Some of these are up to the discretion of the examiner,
but be prepared with parallel parking,
three-point turn, and backing into a parking space
for the purposes of your driver's test.
Requirements of the road test.
These are some of the skills that you need.
These are only some.
This is not the definitive list here,
Holding the vehicle in the center of the lane,
observing and shoulder checking every time
you change directions of the vehicle and turning,
responding to changing traffic situations,
and you are responding, not reacting,
because if you're reacting, that is often an emergency.
If you're in doubt on your driver's test
or in any traffic situation,
simply stop, and know the fly in the ointment
of any driving test is emergency vehicles.
If you do not come to a stop completely,
as soon as you see the emergency vehicle behind you
or approaching from the front,
that is an automatic fail on a driver's test.
As well, there's a video here of top 10 reasons
that people will have automatic fails on the driver's test.
Corey will put that up for you as well,
and that'll help out.
So new video this week, the one skill,
if you can implement this one skill,
you'll be a safer, smarter driver,
so have a look at that video and figure out
what that skill is, and essentially, it's not a secret.
Keep space in front of your vehicle,
much more space than what you are.
Livestream every Sunday at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time,
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We answer all of your questions about driving,
passing a driver's license test,
becoming a safer, smarter driver,
or starting a career as a truck or bus driver.
Click up in the corner here,
set a reminder for Sunday's livestream,
and we'll see you then.
So abilities for your driver's test.
Two hands on the steering wheel,
stopping in traffic so you can see the tires of the vehicle
in front making clear contact with the roadway,
correct stopping position at controlled intersections,
which is behind the stop line
before the crosswalk or sidewalk,
and if those two conditions don't exist,
then at the edge of the road where the two roads meet.
You must stop at orange traffic lights
for the purposes of a driver's test.
Yellow and red traffic lights mean the same thing,
and right-of-way, you must know right-of-way rules.
And also know for the purposes
of driving and passing a driver's test,
that the right-of-way is never taken.
It is always, always given.
So another driver has to give it to you before you can go.
So slow speed maneuvers, revisit the fundamentals.
So after you've been driving for a while,
go back to the parking lot, do your parallel parking,
do your reverse stall parking, your three-point turns,
your two-point reverse turns,
and also know that it's a little dicey right now
in terms of whether you're going to be doing
a parking lot test,
or whether you're going to be doing out in the road test.
Most places now, most DMVs now are back on the road.
They're not doing parking lot tests,
but there's still a few sprinkled around,
depending on what state, what county you're in.
I don't know of any place in Canada
that's still doing parking lot tests,
but I do know that there are still a few places
in the United States that are doing parking lot tests,
so know that as well.
You can take driving lessons,
and I do strongly recommend that you do take driving lessons
before your driver's test.
If you're not taking any driver training,
you can take a whole class, like a section of 10,
and you can buy that from a driving school.
Or you can just take individual lessons.
And if you're not going to take driver training,
I strongly encourage you to take a mock driving test
or a practice road test
before you actually show up for your driving test.
It might cost you $100 to go out with a driving instructor,
but the return on investment is really, really high,
so I encourage you to do that.
Practicing.
In the year of you have your learner's test,
and I know this is not the way that most people do it
when they're practicing for the driver's test,
most get in the vehicle six to eight weeks
before their test.
However, I do encourage you to drive
as much as possible on your learner's.
Take every opportunity to drive that you can get.
Practice in different vehicles
and practice in different environment.
If you get into the vehicle, and during the task,
one of the things that the examiner is going to ask you
to do, is he or she will ask you to turn on the defrost,
they will ask you to activate the high beam lights,
and they will ask you to put on the windshield wipers.
Those are the three secondary controls that the examiner may
or may not ask you to do.
If you cannot activate the high beams
and the low beams on the headlights,
that indicates to the examiner
that you didn't drive at night, okay?
You didn't have a lot of driving experience,
as well with windshield wipers, same thing.
You didn't drive in bad weather, inclement weather.
You didn't turn on the windshield wipers, and defrost.
You didn't drive in cold weather,
and you didn't have to keep the windows clear.
So even if you didn't get a lot of driving experience,
know that you're going to have to do that
for the purpose of your driver's test,
so make sure you know what those secondary controls are
before you show up for your driver's test.
Okay, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Sometimes during a driver's test,
people who should have failed passed the driver's test,
and sometimes people who should have passed failed
the driver's test.
It's just the way that the situation goes.
Sometimes drivers with not a very high skill level,
just everything goes right on the driver's test.
Nothing goes wrong, nothing that they have to deal with,
and they're able to pass the driver's test.
Unfortunately, for good drivers,
drivers that have had a lot of practice,
something just goes wrong in the driving environment,
and they're not successful.
So book your practice driving test three weeks out
before your your actual driver's test,
seven to 10 days before the road test,
and I say this because if you fail your driver's test
and you have to go back, one of the things that,
and it's not only the skills
that you've got to put in place to pass your driver's test
on the second attempt,
you also have to rebuild your confidence,
because for a lot of people,
it's really stressful to take their driver's test.
I wouldn't say it's the most stressful day in your life
as I do in my adverts, but for some, it can be.
It's very stressful and it's all relative, right?
Obviously we're going to have things in our life
that are much more stressful than taking a driver's test,
but it is stressful,
and you don't want to have to come back and do it again
and rebuild your confidence because, you know,
then it just takes almost as long to take your test
the second time as it did for you to take it
the first time.
The fundamentals, learn the basics.
Focus on the fundamentals.
Focus on turning, stopping, accelerating.
Those will really, really improve your overall driving.
Okay?
Luck favors the prepared. You must master the basic skills.
Prepare for the opportunity that life is presenting to you
that you will pass your driver's test.
The night before your driver's test, get good sleep,
put your documentation together.
If you need to wear glasses for your purposes of driving,
do that, and make sure you have your money.
When you show up at the driver's test,
if there aren't signs prohibiting you parking,
backing into the parking space,
then back into the parking space, go in,
check in, come back out, breathe, breathe, breathe,
'cause breathing will cause your body to relax.
And on the driver's test, if you think you made a mistake,
keep going, because the mistake or error
that you thought you made may not be the same error
that the driving examiner thought you made, okay?
So just keep going
until the driving examiner tells you to stop.
Your job for the purposes of the driver's test is
to take away the examiner's right to fail you,
nothing more, nothing less.
You simply have to demonstrate to the examiner
that you have due care and control of the vehicle
in changing traffic conditions.
All right, that's your job.
Hit that thumbs up button,
leave a comment down in the comments 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've 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.