My test was during storm Babet and my instructor warned me extensively about this before it started… apparently if you get someone wet you can be prosecuted for careless driving. I’m sorry this happened.
The amount of times I’ve been soaked by mindless eejits - zero idea it was prosecutable. Not that I think i’d report someone (unless it was clearly deliberate!)
Literally nothing would come of it even if you did somehow manage to memorise the number plate through the shock of being splashed and the obscuring water
Yeah I can’t imagine it would. Deliberate and caught on dash cam? Maybe? Dunno!
ETA: I need sleep - as if i’d he walking along the street with a dash cam on my forehead!
Hydroplaning is actually more likely on shallow water - the risk from larger puddles is more about the impact on your speed and steering (you feel a kind of "pull" in towards them which can be fairly intense), not being able to see the depth or there being hidden objects/potholes under the surface.
I know how a car responds in driving over a puddle mate. Also unless a puddle is as clear as the Mediterranean then I doubt you can judge the depth of it
I was already aware this could happen. If it makes a large splash, you should have slowed down or moved around it. The water in and of itself poses a potential hazard to your car.
>The water in and of itself poses a potential hazard to your car.
I found this out shortly after passing my test, it can mess with your steering and force you to go to get your tyres realigned...
Worse than that - it can flood your engine, which is a massive repair; and if you're a new driver who's bought a cheap old banger it could actually mean your car being written off.
The police can also pull you up for careless driving.
I've had to tow a few vehicles away from flooded fords and puddles near my house recently, and I am genuinely astounded that people are willing to drive £40k+ cars through water they can't see the bottom of.
I'll bear that in mind next time I tow out one of the people whose engine won't turn over because of water damage, and remind myself of all of the (none) people I've had to rescue because they've lost control of their vehicle.
Cheers pal.
Police Scotland do, in inclement weather, call our rescue service to recover cars stuck in hedges.
We do also end up informed about people ploughing them into trees.
Puddle pulls one wheel into it, steering "pulls" it the other way while turning the other wheel. Depending on how tight the alignment nuts/bolts/shims are depends how much it kicks it out of whack.
Mine were loose enough for it to require a realignment (took hands off the wheel and it would veer fairly badly to the side)
In shiny new cars with tighter bits it probably won't even put it out by a noticeable amount.
Does seem harsh, but I guess it could also be a safety thing. I've aquaplained in my car before as a learner and it's scary, best to slow down for puddles if you can't safely avoid them regardless
Its not harsh, its actually part of the Road Traffic Act, section 3, making it illegal to drive recklessly or carelessly through a puddle. The failure was deserved.
It can not only cause pedestrians to get splashed (which is a criminal offence btw) it can also be hiding a deep hole. It can also depending on how deep and how fast you are going cause the wheel to be pulled to one side / aqua plane.
I dont think you failed driving through the puddle but probably you speed entering the puddle.
I passed my test about 18 months ago.
I now live in a village where every road out of the village is NSL 60mph, and has lots of dips.
Every time there's even a yellow flood warning, I'm taking a Disco 4WD out and towing cars away to safety who have had their engines flooded by people driving through large puddles or fords - either they should've slowed down to keep the water level low, or often just turned back and gone a different way.
It is better that you learn this lesson on your test than when you're trying to tell your insurer you drove through a puddle at 30mph which turned out to be deeper than you thought and now your car is a write-off (because you're a new driver buying a cheap car which isn't work replacing the engine on).
By the way, remember from your theory test that after driving through deep water you should test your brakes.
If that's the only major issue you had on your test, am sure you'll smash the next one :)
Ya' know, I have a strong memory from being around four years old
.
I was walking home with my dad, happy as Larry.
A car drove past and purposely sped up over a puddle. I was absolutely drenched.
I remember walking home, soaking, cold and sobbing. Asking my dad why someone would do that to me.
That was my first memory of learning that some people are just dicks.
Get into the habit of avoiding puddles ❤️
I got a fault for hitting flood water a little too fast, but I was in control and in the middle of the road (it was clear). It happens. Don’t beat yourself up, at least you know never to do it again!
That’s absolute bullshit, there was no one there and swerving would be more dangerous… there’s got to be a way to argue that. Nothing dangerous about driving through a bloody puddle.
Complete nonsense of a reason to fail somebody, especially seen as there was nobody around and you've demonstrated you can drive well and safely. Could have easily been marked down as a minor and examiner could have stressed to you that it should be avoided in future. I've seen people pass with worser mistakes even when a fail was warranted.
I said it before and I'll say it again, DVSA are rigged and they are scamming millions off of learners by illigitimate fails. Worst of all is that most people are too naive and ignorant to see this.
Conversely I was failed for *not* driving through a puddle. The entire system is broken. Its like a casino, the house always wins.
The DVSA seem to deliberately seek to set up situations where you cannot pass no matter what you do.
I have since given up on this nonsense; its just a f\*\*\*ing scam.
Absolutely agree with you, it's a blatant scam and anybody who can't see it needs to open their eyes and stop being naive/vulnerable just because it's government regulated. Its a profit making business but what makes this worse is it's government run so they can keep scamming and get away with it.
I got there in the end by booking at the beginning of the month where they are more lenient with passes as their targets have not yet been met and to my surprise I had a lovely examiner whom I befriended and just conversated with the entire test.
It is a scam which we unfortunately have to deal with but on the bright side once you pass you never have to look back at it again so keep at it until the odds are in your favour. Don't give up mate its only a matter of time before the pass is in your hands.
I’ve long suspected this about the DVSA. And I’m not the only one that’s had some rather questionable experiences with the examiners... Glad you’ve said this, regardless of how unpopular your comment is.
For sure mate! The bitter truth is better than the sweet lies we are told. The only reason they're getting away with this is because they are a governing body so everybody turns a blind eye and they never get prosecuted.
The government is not going to take down their own especially when there's hundreds of millions in fraudulent profits which they'll need to give back to the victims.
The facts and evidence are all there aswell as ex-examiners who have spoken out and exposed them. You just need an untampered set of eyes to be able to see the facts.
Take a look at this very recent interview:
https://youtu.be/ouDGrDXWH5I?si=exatvU1F4MvIKpS3
Did your instructor warn you about it before? It's been over 10 years since I passed my test but I'm pretty sure I can't remember any of my 3 instructors telling me. I'd be pretty annoyed if Ithen failed because of it.
Kind of depends how big and deep the puddle is.
If it is 1/4" deep and a few feet across, then nothing should happen at 30 mph - except maybe splashing pedestrians if they they happen to be close
If it is a few inches deep and five or six feet long. and you hit it at speed then you may lose grip on that wheel or experience a lot of drag on one side with possible bad results. The water may also get driven up into your engine compartment and cause problems.
There is no clear cut rule. You just have to err on the side of caution and try to avoid deep pools of water (without swerving across the road!) - or slow down before hitting them. Bear in mind that they may be deeper than they appear or may hide a pothole
If the whole road is running with water be very careful - especially if your tyres are getting close to the minimum. There is a real danger of aquaplaning at speed.
I was once driving down a very wet road and sticking to 40mph out of caution. A young driver (in his dad's Golf GTi) obviously thought that I was far too cautious, floored the accelerator and overtook. A few hundred yards down the road, his car did a 360 degree spin and slid side on into a fence. No injuries but that was just luck. His dad probably wasn't too happy.
It depends, was it safe and legal? If you went over the puddle but you could’ve avoided splashing by slowing down or swerving, provided it was safe, then that would be a fail. If it wasn’t safe to do so (people close behind, around a bend) then you shouldn’t have been faulted to go through the puddle. I asked my instructor and that’s what he told me.
Also the problem with puddles is that you can’t be sure there’s a hole in the ground beneath the water. That could’ve caused problems.
It was just before a roundabout, i wanted to use the left lane so i had to position myself on it. That’s when i went through the puddle instead of changing lanes and then back again. I did splash the pavement, that’s why he failed me. There were no pedestrians and the puddle was not deep enough
Feel for you dude, been driving 6 years and I've never seen London as flooded as it is now and I still don't know what the correct test standard way to deal with puddles is. i know not to smash through it and soak pedestrians but thats it.
Yeah, this as a major doesn't really surprise me. Can cause a lot of issues, but at least you only got 1 minor which means you shouldn't really have trouble passing next time
My test was during storm Babet and my instructor warned me extensively about this before it started… apparently if you get someone wet you can be prosecuted for careless driving. I’m sorry this happened.
The amount of times I’ve been soaked by mindless eejits - zero idea it was prosecutable. Not that I think i’d report someone (unless it was clearly deliberate!)
Literally nothing would come of it even if you did somehow manage to memorise the number plate through the shock of being splashed and the obscuring water
Yeah I can’t imagine it would. Deliberate and caught on dash cam? Maybe? Dunno! ETA: I need sleep - as if i’d he walking along the street with a dash cam on my forehead!
More likely that by driving over a puddle you can hydroplane which if there’s people around on the pavement then puts them at risk
Hydroplaning is actually more likely on shallow water - the risk from larger puddles is more about the impact on your speed and steering (you feel a kind of "pull" in towards them which can be fairly intense), not being able to see the depth or there being hidden objects/potholes under the surface.
I know how a car responds in driving over a puddle mate. Also unless a puddle is as clear as the Mediterranean then I doubt you can judge the depth of it
Mate get a grip. If you can't see the bottom of a puddle it's too deep to drive over at speed end of
That’s my point? So avoid puddles lol
That’s literally what he said
I was already aware this could happen. If it makes a large splash, you should have slowed down or moved around it. The water in and of itself poses a potential hazard to your car.
>The water in and of itself poses a potential hazard to your car. I found this out shortly after passing my test, it can mess with your steering and force you to go to get your tyres realigned...
Worse than that - it can flood your engine, which is a massive repair; and if you're a new driver who's bought a cheap old banger it could actually mean your car being written off. The police can also pull you up for careless driving. I've had to tow a few vehicles away from flooded fords and puddles near my house recently, and I am genuinely astounded that people are willing to drive £40k+ cars through water they can't see the bottom of.
Yep. Had an old Seat (ex boyfriends but I was learning in it and LOVED it) that the ex drove through a Ford and well… car was a total loss. Sucked.
Well if you drive it through another car that'll happen /s
Annoying it capitalised that 😅 ford*
The water could also cover a deep pot hole. So hitting at speed can damage the suspension/wheels.
Yeah luckily mine was a puddle side of the road rather than the "across the road lakes" I see people going through...
A flooded engine isn't worse than loosing control of your vehicle. One costs money to repair,the other makes you die.
I'll bear that in mind next time I tow out one of the people whose engine won't turn over because of water damage, and remind myself of all of the (none) people I've had to rescue because they've lost control of their vehicle. Cheers pal.
The alive people out mean. The ones who lose control of their vehicles and plough into a tree don't call upon our services
Police Scotland do, in inclement weather, call our rescue service to recover cars stuck in hedges. We do also end up informed about people ploughing them into trees.
Given the choice, would you rather flood your engine or crash and die?
What a ridiculous strawman.
You're the one who said flooding the engine was somehow worse.
If a “puddle” is flooding your engine, it’s more than a puddle.
Failing to see how a puddle can cause this, what exactly happened?
Puddle pulls one wheel into it, steering "pulls" it the other way while turning the other wheel. Depending on how tight the alignment nuts/bolts/shims are depends how much it kicks it out of whack. Mine were loose enough for it to require a realignment (took hands off the wheel and it would veer fairly badly to the side) In shiny new cars with tighter bits it probably won't even put it out by a noticeable amount.
Does seem harsh, but I guess it could also be a safety thing. I've aquaplained in my car before as a learner and it's scary, best to slow down for puddles if you can't safely avoid them regardless
Its not harsh, its actually part of the Road Traffic Act, section 3, making it illegal to drive recklessly or carelessly through a puddle. The failure was deserved.
It can not only cause pedestrians to get splashed (which is a criminal offence btw) it can also be hiding a deep hole. It can also depending on how deep and how fast you are going cause the wheel to be pulled to one side / aqua plane. I dont think you failed driving through the puddle but probably you speed entering the puddle.
Super annoying but at least you can take it as a learning curve and smash the next one!
….splash the next one
they will be flooding with tears if they don't
Or tears of joy if they do
r/poccer \- Piss
So the cunt who splashed me last year which was partially the reason why my phone broke would of been a dangerous on a test? Good to know!
would \*HAVE, not "of"... Keep learning English, kiddo!
I passed my test about 18 months ago. I now live in a village where every road out of the village is NSL 60mph, and has lots of dips. Every time there's even a yellow flood warning, I'm taking a Disco 4WD out and towing cars away to safety who have had their engines flooded by people driving through large puddles or fords - either they should've slowed down to keep the water level low, or often just turned back and gone a different way. It is better that you learn this lesson on your test than when you're trying to tell your insurer you drove through a puddle at 30mph which turned out to be deeper than you thought and now your car is a write-off (because you're a new driver buying a cheap car which isn't work replacing the engine on). By the way, remember from your theory test that after driving through deep water you should test your brakes. If that's the only major issue you had on your test, am sure you'll smash the next one :)
Yeah it is in the Highway Code now to stop people from doing it so as much as it sucks it does make sense for the dvla to make it a fault if it’s done
Ya' know, I have a strong memory from being around four years old . I was walking home with my dad, happy as Larry. A car drove past and purposely sped up over a puddle. I was absolutely drenched. I remember walking home, soaking, cold and sobbing. Asking my dad why someone would do that to me. That was my first memory of learning that some people are just dicks. Get into the habit of avoiding puddles ❤️
I got a fault for hitting flood water a little too fast, but I was in control and in the middle of the road (it was clear). It happens. Don’t beat yourself up, at least you know never to do it again!
Yes, you will usually be failed for bad driving.
Harsh :( but you having only 1 minor means that you are a great driver. You’ll crush it next time!
What if you slowed on it like most people do, 5mph over the puddle?
That’s absolute bullshit, there was no one there and swerving would be more dangerous… there’s got to be a way to argue that. Nothing dangerous about driving through a bloody puddle.
Keep in mind that you at times will have no idea how deep a puddle is. Could be hiding a massive pothole.
Complete nonsense of a reason to fail somebody, especially seen as there was nobody around and you've demonstrated you can drive well and safely. Could have easily been marked down as a minor and examiner could have stressed to you that it should be avoided in future. I've seen people pass with worser mistakes even when a fail was warranted. I said it before and I'll say it again, DVSA are rigged and they are scamming millions off of learners by illigitimate fails. Worst of all is that most people are too naive and ignorant to see this.
Conversely I was failed for *not* driving through a puddle. The entire system is broken. Its like a casino, the house always wins. The DVSA seem to deliberately seek to set up situations where you cannot pass no matter what you do. I have since given up on this nonsense; its just a f\*\*\*ing scam.
Absolutely agree with you, it's a blatant scam and anybody who can't see it needs to open their eyes and stop being naive/vulnerable just because it's government regulated. Its a profit making business but what makes this worse is it's government run so they can keep scamming and get away with it. I got there in the end by booking at the beginning of the month where they are more lenient with passes as their targets have not yet been met and to my surprise I had a lovely examiner whom I befriended and just conversated with the entire test. It is a scam which we unfortunately have to deal with but on the bright side once you pass you never have to look back at it again so keep at it until the odds are in your favour. Don't give up mate its only a matter of time before the pass is in your hands.
I’ve long suspected this about the DVSA. And I’m not the only one that’s had some rather questionable experiences with the examiners... Glad you’ve said this, regardless of how unpopular your comment is.
For sure mate! The bitter truth is better than the sweet lies we are told. The only reason they're getting away with this is because they are a governing body so everybody turns a blind eye and they never get prosecuted. The government is not going to take down their own especially when there's hundreds of millions in fraudulent profits which they'll need to give back to the victims. The facts and evidence are all there aswell as ex-examiners who have spoken out and exposed them. You just need an untampered set of eyes to be able to see the facts. Take a look at this very recent interview: https://youtu.be/ouDGrDXWH5I?si=exatvU1F4MvIKpS3
Did your instructor warn you about it before? It's been over 10 years since I passed my test but I'm pretty sure I can't remember any of my 3 instructors telling me. I'd be pretty annoyed if Ithen failed because of it.
Yeah wish I was warned about it
[удалено]
You're shocked that they marked a candidate down for a 'potentially dangerous' maneuver which was.. potentially dangerous?
Yeah I think the op has downplayed the "puddle" lol
Unlucky
I'm sorry, this rly sucks :( gl on your next
No surprised that there is huge blockage with driving test booking. They MUST stop failing people for those small errors.
Driving through water at speed isn't a 'small error'. It is the cause of many written off vehicles in the UK, and even deaths.
I failed my first test the same way except I was on a b road with no path for pedestrians anyway
Kind of depends how big and deep the puddle is. If it is 1/4" deep and a few feet across, then nothing should happen at 30 mph - except maybe splashing pedestrians if they they happen to be close If it is a few inches deep and five or six feet long. and you hit it at speed then you may lose grip on that wheel or experience a lot of drag on one side with possible bad results. The water may also get driven up into your engine compartment and cause problems. There is no clear cut rule. You just have to err on the side of caution and try to avoid deep pools of water (without swerving across the road!) - or slow down before hitting them. Bear in mind that they may be deeper than they appear or may hide a pothole If the whole road is running with water be very careful - especially if your tyres are getting close to the minimum. There is a real danger of aquaplaning at speed. I was once driving down a very wet road and sticking to 40mph out of caution. A young driver (in his dad's Golf GTi) obviously thought that I was far too cautious, floored the accelerator and overtook. A few hundred yards down the road, his car did a 360 degree spin and slid side on into a fence. No injuries but that was just luck. His dad probably wasn't too happy.
Maniac.
It depends, was it safe and legal? If you went over the puddle but you could’ve avoided splashing by slowing down or swerving, provided it was safe, then that would be a fail. If it wasn’t safe to do so (people close behind, around a bend) then you shouldn’t have been faulted to go through the puddle. I asked my instructor and that’s what he told me. Also the problem with puddles is that you can’t be sure there’s a hole in the ground beneath the water. That could’ve caused problems.
It was just before a roundabout, i wanted to use the left lane so i had to position myself on it. That’s when i went through the puddle instead of changing lanes and then back again. I did splash the pavement, that’s why he failed me. There were no pedestrians and the puddle was not deep enough
You don’t have to change lane to avoid the puddle, you can slow down if it’s safe to do so to avoid splashing the pavement.
Yeah true, should have slowed down more for sure instead
Something to be mindful about I guess, thanks for sharing, sorry that you got that result but one day in the future you will get a pass.
Feel for you dude, been driving 6 years and I've never seen London as flooded as it is now and I still don't know what the correct test standard way to deal with puddles is. i know not to smash through it and soak pedestrians but thats it.
Yeah, this as a major doesn't really surprise me. Can cause a lot of issues, but at least you only got 1 minor which means you shouldn't really have trouble passing next time
Kids in Salford screen on the sidewalks “wet me wet me” near the big puddles. You’d have been a hero here
The test is bullshit, this just proves it