Epic fail: 13 shots at driving licence
Government reaps $730k from bad drivers who have to resit expensive tests. Joel Ineson reports.
Some dreadful drivers are sitting their full licence test up to 13 times before passing, new figures reveal.
The New Zealand Transport Agency’s latest available data shows almost 10,000 people who received their full licence in 2016 had failed at least once, four of them failed 10 or more times.
And that failing feeling hit the would-be drivers hard in the pocket with the NZTA revealing the additional amount paid by people to resit their test was at least $739,106. The person who took 13 attempts forked out about $820 before they were handed their full licence.
Former licence testing officer Zane Kirk said failed attempts often came down to complacency among restricted drivers.
‘‘It’s almost like they have this attitude of, ‘Oh, I’ll take you for a quick trip around the block and you give me my licence.
‘‘It doesn’t quite work like that, and, of course, when they fail after a minute or two, they get all aggro about it.’’
A full driver’s licence requires a practical test with an an approved driver testing officer.
It is the final stage for basic motor vehicle licensing in New Zealand, after a theory test for a learner licence and practical test for a restricted licence.
You have to be 16 to sit a learner licence test. The overall minimum period between obtaining a learner licence to sitting a full licence is two years. But that can be reduced to 18 months if the driver undergoes a defensive driving course while on their restricted licence.
Critical errors – such as failing to signal, travelling too slow or mounting a kerb result in a fail and are recorded in both practical tests. A full licence test also involves identifying hazards to the testing officer while driving.
Christchurch man Sean Fisk sits at the lowest end of the spectrum, having failed his full licence once in 2014 before re-sitting and passing about halfway through 2016.
The 23-year-old said he was ‘‘a bit dark’’ after he failed following three mistakes he thought were minor: failing to indicate when leaving a roundabout, not checking his wing mirror before entering a median strip and crossing a cycle lane before the broken lines.
‘‘I was pissed off, as soon as they find three mistakes they just send you back – they don’t take you for the full test. The fact that they were really quite pedantic mistakes, it’s It’s almost like they have this attitude of, ‘Oh, I’ll take you for a quick trip around the block and you give me my licence. not like I was making decisions that would put someone at risk.’’
However, Fisk’s confidence was buoyed when his test in 2016 went ‘‘primo’’.
He believed down to the assessors.
‘‘I explained to the instructor what I’d done last time and he thought it was pretty harsh. The way he explained it is that they know we can drive, but they’re just looking for bad habits.
‘‘The second guy explained to me what he was looking for in that test his experience came consistency of his whereas the first guy, he was actually arguing from the get-go. It was like he didn’t even want to do it.’’
Kirk is now an instructor at XTO Driver Training. He said under the old testing system drivers would be pulled up on their mistakes only if they were made under the area being assessed at the time.
He believed many fully licensed drivers would not pass the new test the first time around under the new system.
‘‘Out of all of the tests I’ve taken, I think maybe two or three might have actually passed.
That’s people who’ve been driving a while. A lot of drivers admit they probably wouldn’t pass.
‘‘You get these aggro drivers. We were sitting at a stop sign one day waiting to turn left, on a full test. There was a guy behind us in his four-wheel-drive and he went up on the footpath.
‘‘He went between a stop sign and a power pole to get around the corner before us, just drove completely around the corner on the footpath because he couldn’t be bothered waiting.’’
Wellington driver testing officer Mohammed Harooj said most people who failed their test were surprised, but often had not prepared enough. At their worst he has seen drivers drifting from side-toside on the road.
‘‘We were then approaching the traffic light when it changed to yellow. He slowed down, but then just before the lights he sped up saying ‘I can beat it’,’’ said Harooj of a man sitting his test.
‘‘He drove through on the red light and we were very lucky the other drivers took evasive action. I asked him to pull over, but instead he stopped in the middle of the road and got out saying he had never driven in Wellington before.’’
Fisk said he thought the majority of Kiwis were capable drivers.
‘‘There are definitely some shockers. Overall I think we’re pretty good, I think across the board we’re pretty picky, even when it comes down to indicating and things, it drives people crazy.’’
Harooj, who had been a tester for more than 12 years, said drivers, overall, needed to become more patient and aware of their surroundings on the road.