Speeding

Has anyone (from anywhere) been failed on their driving test for exceeding the speed limit by only 1 or 2 k/hr?

Some driving instructors are recommending that learner drivers be failed for any excess of the speed limit,even if only momentary!
Duh !! Driving well below the speed limit does nothing to improve road safety or traffic congestion. Every one will need to hurry at some stage of their driving life,hopefully not only at the end.

I would think it kind of foolish, but as a wise person once told me; “just jump through the hoops”.

Maybe some guy, on a power trip, thought that speeding by 1km/h or doing 15km under the speed limit at all times would be a great idea and pushed it through.

What would be the more useful stance to your own personal interests? Make a stand a never get your license? Or just drive as poorly as they make you drive until you pass your test and move on to “real” driving.

Granted there is merit to not speeding and safer driving… but are examinations supposed to be so ruthless? Consider pilot flight tests, where pilots must demonstrate their competency to carry the heavy responsibility of flying a 100 ton multi million dollar flying machine. In their flight tests, pilots are allowed exceed their given speed by 5 knots, 10 knots even if conditions are bumpy. Holding altitude a pilot is allowed 100 feet difference from the altitude they are supposed to hold, again greater if conditions are unfavourable.

I supposed the major difference is that in planes you always have trained professionals, while on the road you never know what idiotic street racer determined for a shot of adrenaline in his delusional ego booster of a car with a loud muffler to falsify the sensation of power that he can’t actually afford without his high-school diploma. Or Mrs. I-don’t-check-blind-spots-because-I’m-very-aware-of-my-surroundings, “oh! where did that guy come from?”

On my driver’s test 6 years ago I received a warning “The limit is 50″. I think that was my one chance; I held 5 under the speed limit for the rest of the test. I passed. I have never heard of anyone failing for 1-2 over. Keep in mind, the examiner has to look at the speed from the right hand side. On an analog meter, depending on the angle, what you see as 50 the examiner might see as 51 (although on most meters the examiner should actually see 49). So essentially you should get a 1-2km/h leeway based on that alone.

But I wouldn’t count on it. Where power-tripping officials would turn a democratic people into democratic dogs; by popular demand I might add, to reduce the death toll on the road, jump through the hoops. They can’t make you beg for a treat, or rather, your license so long as you accomplished the jump without error.

My two cents.

Teenage Drinking. 1/2.