Is hitting the kerb on your Driving Test an automatic fail?

This is clearly a bit more than hitting the kerb! Lol

This falls into the area we talked about a couple of weeks ago and the types of myth relating to the do's and don'ts of a Driving Test.

No, it's not an automatic fail. That's not to say you can just go bashing into them. You have a job to do when you are driving and that is to keep full control of the car at all times. It's for good reason. It's what keeps everyone safe.

Car control and how you manage it is one of the key points any examiner will be looking and watching for.

Think of it this way... you are performing a Turn in the Road manoeuvre (3 Point Turn), you put the car into gear, floor the accelerator and shoot off across the road and smash into the kerb! That wouldn't work out too well would it? But, control that movement and have the car fully under control and gave the kerb a little tap it wouldn't be the same thing! Yes we try and avoid the kerb but as long as we can demonstrate that we have the car fully under our control we should be cool.

The same goes for taking a little bit of kerb while turning a corner and emerging from a junction. As long as you put nobody else at risk it is often the case that it won't mean too much in terms of a test result.

We all make small mistakes while driving. What's important is that we don't let these mistakes influence our performance after the fact. You can do nothing about a small mistake. Unless that is you have a time-machine in your pocket!