Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:Smeeagain wrote:akirk wrote:It is valid for the examiner to want to understand that the examinee knows the controls / knows the car is safe to drive -
Alasdair
But surely the knowledge would have come from the fact that we'd discussed beforehand that I've had the car six years and covered 150,000 miles in it ........
Absolutely not - witness the number of people who own a car for years and never look under the bonnet, or open the handbook. While I'm very sympathetic to your situation in respect of the amount of detail you were asked to provide, that particular approach doesn't wash.
I don't think he was asked to look under the bonnet, or in the handbook. He was told that he should have done a more comprehensive cabin check. I think Smeeagain's point is perfectly valid.
The examiner should use his common sense in these situations. It can be assumed by the examiner that someone who has driven a vehicle 150,000 miles will know where the indicator controls, the wiper controls, the light switches, the horn button, the mirror adjustment controls are all located. He shouldn't have to demonstrate this knowledge before starting the engine. If, after 150,000 miles of driving, he isn't overly familiar with the controls then that will soon become apparent on test and, I would suggest, there'll be rather more important matters for the examiner to discuss with the candidate than the location of the indicator witches
.
However, an examinee who arrives for test with a vehicle he bought last week - well that's a completely different matter.
In which case the examiner should specifically ask for a demonstration of familiarity with the controls. Like I said before the world of police driving is different in this respect to civilian driving where drivers tend to drive just one vehicle on a regular basis.
In any case, a lack of familiarity with the controls will soon become apparent on test when the wipers commence their sweep across a clear windscreen on the approach to a left-hand turn.
PS: Perhaps I shouldn't discount the possibility that an examinee who doesn't know where his indicator controls are located, and who has therefore consciously avoided any signalling whatsoever on test, will cover-up that lack of knowledge by exclaiming to the examiner that his observer told him that... "
advanced drivers don't need to indicate because no one will benefit. Anyway, that's what I thought he said".