FAILED

so the worst possible thing happened. ok maybe not. after all, i did have zero immediate failures. thats a plus considering how i used to collect them. but i made mistakes i never thought i'd make - like forgetting to release handbrake, knocking down a pole during parallel park, and not checking mirror before slowing down. i knew that mirror thing was a problem right from the end of stage 2. but i somehow never did anything about it because none of the instructors have ever pointed it out. nevertheless... i failed. that is really not so much to document the experience as much as it is doing my best to make this the ultimate bbdc review blog.


besides, it was raining so heavily (chan hy's words are a prophecy) i could barely see the arrows on the road; and i have never driven at night before i had no idea how to turn on the headlights. not that i was penalised for that, but still. after i knocked down the pole i thought i had failed already so when he told me to go out onto the roads i was like, HUH? and as a result, it affected the rest of my test (as i said, chan hy's words are a prophecy).


ironically the only part of chan hy's words that failed to come true is the thing about me passing. im sorry to all my instructors, cos me failing means they dont get their year-end bonus. and still i wish i got hau kw right from the start considering the rest of the points came from safety issues.


but y'know after the debrief it became apparent to me how the traffic police standard is so different from the instructors'. not because the instructors are slack, but because the tester is just looking out for different things. as such i think the traffic police should release an entire list of official test criteria.






anyway! im not upset anymore (i felt awful after i knocked the pole down and even worse after i got out of the car) and what remains is just the embarrassment from not being able to pass on my first try (cos everyone else passes on first try, right, but its bbdc and most of my friends who learnt it @ bbdc didnt pass on their first try). the truth is i didnt deserve to pass today either - driving in the rain reminded me i wasnt confident enough to deal with such changes in the weather.


fact is, better to knock poles in the circuit and fail driving test than knock down people in real life and spend a couple of years in jail.


must move on. i look forward to passing before the expiry of my PDL. my re-test will be on 7/1/10. long time to go. for now, im going to take a breather from this whole driving thing. second try please. i'd seriously be too embarrassed to face any of my driver friends if i take it more than twice. xD


the worst part of 2009 was failing my driving test. original entry here.