"I couldn’t read the license plate because I’m dyslexic" – The wildest stories from driving traffic exams

As a shy girl, I was afraid to drive fast, and my instructor kept reminding me to keep a steady pace during the exam because someone had failed before for going too slow. "You have to match the rhythm of traffic," he said. I focused so much on this that I hit the first speed bump so hard the examiner bumped his head on the car roof. He was still rubbing his bump when we returned to the lot.

I didn’t catch in time that the instruction was to turn right at the “first opportunity” and I overshot the exit in the roundabout. I stopped nicely and reversed back. I was proud of myself, my instructor could have cried, and the examiner clicked his tongue in surprise saying he’d never seen that before. Of course, I still failed.

I was doomed before we even started. The examiner asked me to read out the license plate, but I couldn’t. I tried to explain I’m dyslexic, but he said he couldn’t let anyone on the road who can’t read their own plate.

I didn’t even get as far as turning out of the parking lot. I was so nervous my hands and feet were shaking. When the examiner asked me to reverse into a parking spot, I slammed the gas and backed into the wall behind us. I got so scared I fainted. The whole "exam" lasted less than three minutes.

I grew up in the countryside and was already driving my brother’s car on quiet dirt roads at 15. So why did I still fail? A careless pedestrian stepped out in front of me, so I slammed on the brakes. As usual, I rolled down the window, leaned out, and told them off. Turns out, that’s a no-no during the exam. My friends laughed until they cried that I’d been driving for years but still got failed.

I stopped nicely at a green light. A few seconds later, realizing what I was doing, I sped off with screeching tires just as the light turned red.

One time I failed because before starting, when I was checking the vehicle, I locked the keys inside the car and we couldn’t open the doors.

I parked neatly in the tight spot—scraping the rims badly—and then asked the examiner, “Does it look good from your side too?” Instant fail.

I failed because I shifted gears with both hands, and my friend failed because she hit a cow. The cow was fine, but my animal-loving friend cried and freaked out over the poor cow. The examiner said it wasn’t really her fault—the turn was sharp and the cow ran out—but still failed her because “I can’t pass someone who hit a cow.”

It wasn’t me, but my friend came back totally upset because the “rude, awful” examiner failed him for the traffic exam, claiming he must have tried to bribe him! I nervously asked what mistake he made. He shrugged and said, “I ran a red light…”

Photos: istockphoto.com