Why do the majority of young people fail early morning driving tests? A scientific explanation
doesn't surprise those who experienced the inability to access their mental faculties if they
are usually not awake at that particular time. The answer to why many young people fail driving tests
in the early morning hours is inadequate sleep days leading to the tests particularly the night
before the actual driving assessment. My name is Steve and I'm the owner of Driving School WA,
I coached thousands of learner drivers in the past 20 years and I speak to people who call me
for advice on this topic almost every single day. In the last couple of weeks, I spoke to five young
people who failed their assessment despite driving almost perfectly during their practice sessions.
It turns out that the only significant difference was the amount of healthy sleep they had before
the practice sessions versus the driving assessment. Most of their driving lessons
took place at the time of the day when they would usually be awake whereas driving tests were either
7 05 AM or 7 55 in the morning. These five young people who were unsuccessful in passing
their driving tests more than twice each had a near-identical experience, they all had early
morning test bookings and poor night sleep some as little as three hours of sleep the night before.
Early morning driving test bookings may suit and benefit the system that allocates those bookings
but not necessarily young developing brains according to the science. I witnessed this problem
while teaching full time on several occasions and recent conversation with these candidates
I mentioned earlier prompted me to create this self-help driving test video. The best possible
course of action to avoid driving test failure due to fatigue is to either book an afternoon
test time or continue watching this video if morning is the only solution for you
Tiredness is one of the major causes of fatal road crashes and according to experts can be
as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol. If a driver hasn't had enough sleep or if
they're driving when they would usually be asleep sleepiness becomes a risk factor that compromises
safety even for the most experienced drivers. The inability to execute tasks due to lack of presence
of mind amplifies when a driver is inexperienced. So if you want to optimize your chances of
succeeding at your next driving test by trying these simple five steps unless you can change the
appointment time that's in keeping with your sleep cycle and when your brain is operating at its full
capacity. So if possible take these five steps 24 hours before the actual driving assessment
Number one avoid caffeine at least 24 hours prior excluding the time you wake up in the
morning. Number two is, to avoid energy drinks, especially in the evening hours before bedtime.
Number three avoid screen time after the sun sets. If you have to use any devices or you
know gadgets that emit blue light try wearing blue lights blocking glasses. I use them often you know
and I can tell that they work because often if I've spent a lot of hours in front of my screen
and if I go to bed I don't have a problem falling asleep. These blue light blocking glasses are not
expensive you can check them in the link below. Number four go to bed early enough, you have at
least seven hours of sleep and wake up at least about a couple of hours before your appointment.
And number five if you can't fall asleep consider taking a melatonin supplement which is not a
sleeping pill or anything like that it will not make you drowsy it's a natural supplement,
speak to your GP just in case you have concerns about it. Melatonin is a natural supplement that
affects your circadian rhythm which is your sleep clock. To the best of my knowledge and experience,
this supplement is safe and it's recommended for a short time only. It's suitable for jet lag as
your body clock is still synced to your original time zone when you're travelling. Pilots use it,
high profile athletes and musicians, when on tour they use it too. I've used it several times you
can buy it over the counter or get a prescription from your GP. So most people who took my advice
performed considerably better if they took an early morning test. I have to mention that this
is not advice for underprepared candidates, to pass a driving test you have to be familiar with
procedures and your driving instructor or your private supervisor should be confident that you
can pass your driving assessment before you go for it. So if you're underprepared it's not going to
matter what time and which day you're taking a driving test. According to scientific research,
back to sleep and benefits of sleep, teenagers shouldn't be awake as early as 5 or 6 AM. The
education system around the world benefits from having teenagers up early in the morning
but it doesn't help, according to the science again, it doesn't help young developing brain.
I recently read the international bestseller written by Matthew Walker,
professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, titled Why We
Sleep. It's a fantastic book I highly recommend it, it's a great read and I implemented a lot
of stuff myself. It's an eye-opener, check it out in the link below in the description,
it's a masterpiece you know if you're interested to know further about this subject you know it is
definitely a masterpiece worth reading. So if i can reinterpret these remarks by professor Walker
and direct them to the subject I'm talking about here, early morning driving test appointments
benefit the Department of Transport and its management here in Western Australia,
but the vast majority of driving test candidates are teenagers who apparently shouldn't be awake
at six or 7 AM in the morning, particularly if they haven't had good night's sleep. If you're
wondering how does it benefit the Department of Transport well it benefits them because they don't
have to pay any extra to their staff for working overtime and as a result teenagers must get up
so early after inadequate night sleep to try and perform well and you know pass the driving
assessment. By the way, most European countries have compulsory night driving tests and high-speed
maneuvering assessments such as you know freeways or highways in Germany you've got Autobahn which
can even drive up to I don't know 200 kilometres an hour as fast as your car can go really. So,
sadly here in Australia, we don't have those mandatory tests for you know for novice drivers
I want to go through some of the essential aspects briefly of why these five steps work
in most cases if a candidate can drive well but can't implement their skills efficiently
in the early morning hours. According to the findings by professor Walker, caffeine is a
psychedelic chemical substance that suppresses your natural release of melatonin. So by the way
melatonin is released by your body but you know if you trick it into thinking it's a day time it's
going to be late, so you're going to have to be laying in bed for six hours before you actually
realize it's time to sleep. So long exposure to you know to the blue light and you know caffeine
can prolong the release of your natural melatonin. More importantly, 50 of the caffeine you ingest
remains in your system 12 hours after consuming it. Some people claim they
can sleep you know, they can fall asleep and remain asleep if they drink a lot of coffee,
but the research suggests otherwise. Those people with a lot of caffeine in the system
will never reach the deep cycle of sleep which is the most crucial part of the proper recovery
of your cells, which is you know when your brain gets to the stage so it can operate at its full
capacity. So in conclusion, if you follow these simple five steps or most of them,
you'll be putting your skills implementation centre on steroids. Everyone that I worked
with reports that it works miracles. Give it a try you know it can't do you any harm,
let me know your thoughts feel free to share your experience, thank you for watching. Smash the like
button, consider subscribing if you haven't done that already, and whatever you do drive safely