Have you seen the news today? A lady failed her driving test because she splashed a pedestrian with water whilst driving past. The examiner said the incident was technically a crash, and that she should have stopped and exchanged details with the man who was waiting at a bus stop. The Highway Code does not forbid the splashing of pedestrians but Rule 144 states that you must not 'drive without reasonable consideration for other road users'. Rule 147 says that drivers must 'be careful of and considerate towards all types of road users'. (is a pedestrian classed as a road user when they are on the pavement?) Its ridiculous, surely it would have been more dangerous for the driver to veer over to the middle of the road to avoid the puddle. We have had so much rain lately and flooding couldnt the examiner have overlooked this. If she had stopped to exchange details what would be the outcome? Would she have had to claim on her car insurance for the dry cleaning bill of the pedestrian? I wonder if Sheilas Wheels would have covered that LOL! I once covered an old lady with water when I was a learner driver out with Mr Kitten..... It couldn't be avoided as I was in a very busy town centre and I probably would have caused an accident if I'd swerved to avoid it. I was in Margo the Mercedes at the time so it was rather a large car for a learner driver to manouvere. I have to admit it was very funny, her face was an absolute picture. Strangely enough when I was driving Margo male drivers always let me past or waved me through and generally got out of my way. I thought it was because I must have looked ever so glamorous and thought they were being nice, but Mr K said it was because I was a WOMAN in a BIG CAR with L PLATES so they were giving me a wide berth incase I bumped into them. On reflection I suppose a woman in a mercedes with Learner stickers emblazoned on the front and back would be a worrying sight!.....
My first driving test was a nightmare, my instructor was 20 minutes late for my hour lesson right before the test, so didnt have enough time to go through a few things beforehand with me, so I was in a state before I even got to the test centre.....
In the first 3 minutes I did an impromptu emergency stop because the lights changed abit suddenly, which resulted in the examiner nearly smacking her rather large nose off the dashboard. Then on a notorious bad crossroads (even for seasoned drivers) I went past the lights which were on green to turn right, but the oncoming traffic took so long that by the time there was a gap for me to actually turn right the lights which were now just behind me had changed to red which I couldnt see so as soon as I turned I was straight on another crossing where the lights were also on red, and the instructor slammed the brakes on incase I hadnt realised there was a BLIND person about to step out. OMG! You couldnt have written it could you? So in honour of the poor failed driver and my spectacularly bad driving test I suggest you all go out tomorrow and see how many people you can soak. Aren't I awful?.....
