A little road test advice (G, not M)

So I've been riding for over ten years and have had a full M for nearly that long. But I never bothered to get myself the G portion, other than having a G1 for as long (yes, it's still valid, I renew it). I can drive a car, that's not the issue, but the wife and I don't own one and I rarely have the chance. To me a bike is easier, I guess.

Anyway I figure enough of this silliness, I'm sure I'll need the G for work at some point, time to go take the tests. Thing is, I'm the type that gets nervous under tight scrutiny like that and paying $100 on a really tight budget to take the damn test doesn't make things any better.

I want to just practice (I can get a car sometimes) not just driving but "test discipline" driving, but it's been a long damn time since I've been in high school, there's no one to ask "Hey how did your test go, what was it like?" A couple of people I know would be happy to act as surrogate tester so that I can do a bunch of dry runs to properly polish up for the road test to G2, but I need something for them to work from.

I'm sure I can guess at a few things, but I'd rather guess as little as possible. Googling of course gets you the ministry, a bunch of G1 practice tests, and some sketchy looking "driver schools" as well as some legitimate ones. I don't need or expect an exact "cheat sheet" of what is tested, only a similar list that I can give one of theses friend to coach me from, test-style. If anyone has any recommendations for something to go by for test patterns, or a list of "automatic failures" offences, I'd appreciate it.

In exchange of $40-$50, you can get all the knowledge/expertise/advice of a proper driving instructor in 1.5hrs in car. IMO, great gain/price situation.

Otherwise, you can make yourself set for the drivetest by just watching a few youtube vids.

Don't worry so much about failing, it's not $100. I believe it is only $40 for the road test... The rest are other fees.

I am just like you and nervous choke sometimes.

Signal inside the Drivetest parking lot, when entering or exiting a space
Be able to parallel park
When entering a 400 series, merge at the traffic's speed and then drive roughly 105kph in the rightmost lane until told to change lanes.
Always drive in the rightmost lane unless told to change lanes

Hope this gets you started, I'm sure others have many more

SweetOnion said:

When entering a 400 series, merge at the traffic's speed and then drive roughly 105kph in the rightmost lane until told to change lanes.
Always drive in the rightmost lane unless told to change lanes

Click to expand...

The examiners I have dealt with trigger an automatic fail if you break any laws. YMMV.

Don't use a car with a standard transmission (way more rules that are entirely ridiculous, unsafe and not well-documented, but they are enforced and cause failures (eg. car must never ever be in neutral, don't change gears in an intersection, hit every gear on the way down while slowing (including 1st))).

Automatic fail if you alter the course of any other vehicle (ie waiting at a T intersection, if cross traffic shifts in their lane to give you more room, you fail (even if you were stopped at the line)). Again, examiner dependent, but I have seen this one twice.

Blinker for on-ramp begins when traffic on highway can see your taillights (stupid, but that's the rule).

Pretend you are a bobble head doll. Keep your head moving at all times, don't just use your eyes to look around. Exaggerate all of your head movements including blind spot checks.

Be really careful with your license, IIRC the most restrictive conditions apply (ie. zero BAC, no driving after dark because of the G1) even though you have a full M license.

I'm taking the G road test at the end of the month after driving for about 2 years, I'm thinking the hardest part will be keeping my hands correctly on the wheel, not tailgating and stopping at the right distance from cars and crossing lines (you need to see the back wheels of the person stopped in front of you and see the line when stopped at a crossing spot, not be with the wheels on the line) other than that you need to watch out for every ducking slow ass pedestrian and SLOW down in school areas - this is the real trap, other than that its just common sense and like the guy above said, turn your head 360 (like the exorcist movie) at every stop/turn and mirrors check every 10ish secs

GreyGhost said:

The examiners I have dealt with trigger an automatic fail if you break any laws. YMMV.

Don't use a car with a standard transmission (way more rules that are entirely ridiculous, unsafe and not well-documented, but they are enforced and cause failures (eg. car must never ever be in neutral, don't change gears in an intersection, hit every gear on the way down while slowing (including 1st))).

Automatic fail if you alter the course of any other vehicle (ie waiting at a T intersection, if cross traffic shifts in their lane to give you more room, you fail (even if you were stopped at the line)). Again, examiner dependent, but I have seen this one twice.

Blinker for on-ramp begins when traffic on highway can see your taillights (stupid, but that's the rule).

Pretend you are a bobble head doll. Keep your head moving at all times, don't just use your eyes to look around. Exaggerate all of your head movements including blind spot checks.

Be really careful with your license, IIRC the most restrictive conditions apply (ie. zero BAC, no driving after dark because of the G1) even though you have a full M license.

Click to expand...

Someone told me that if you have an M license but a G1, your M is counted as a M1 - I have not facts to back that but that's what I was told.

ZX600 said:

Someone told me that if you have an M license but a G1, your M is counted as a M1 - I have not facts to back that but that's what I was told.

Click to expand...

Uh, that is completely and totally wrong-o. 'M' on your license means just that: A valid, M-class license. Not 'M-but-secretly-an-M1-haha-the-joke's-on-you'. In fact, even if I didn't have a G of any kind, a full M allows me to drive a car under conditions identical to a G1.

@ Ugur: Most of the "Driving schools" in this town are clown cars, as I'm sure many of you know. But even if I found a decent one, there's no need for me to spend that money. I have several very good, safe drivers I know who are willing to help me out for free and for more than just a single 1.5 hour run. They just asked me to see if I could get a checklist for them to work from, so that we could make it as close as possible to a proper test of some sort. Sometimes there's little stupid things on the test you don't always think of, like hand position on the wheel, or specific types of mirror checks done in exactly a way as to make it obvious that you're checking, or other similar things and having a list would be useful.

I'm actually sort of surprised that no one here has ever administered a car road test, since there are quite a few posters who've done motorbike tests for years or who used to.

You've been riding for 10 years and your concerned about passing your M? Is this a joke? Have you seen the people they give this license out to? Just go take it.

jcbarnar said:

You've been riding for 10 years and your concerned about passing your M? Is this a joke? Have you seen the people they give this license out to? Just go take it.

Click to expand...

I'm concerned about passing my G2, not my M. I have my M.

For me it's a bit different. For whatever reason, riding bikes has always been easier than driving a car to me. In any case, as I explained I can drive perfectly well and safely (well, certainly no worse than your average Toronto driver...), but passing the test isn't entirely about that - it's also about crossing T's and dotting I's and I just want to make sure I'm doing that is all.

Don't wear three layers of clothes, arrive in a nervous sweat, then try to take off a layer with the examiner in the car while worrying about if she thinks you're trying to hit on her

Mongrel said:

I'm concerned about passing my G2, not my M. I have my M.

For me it's a bit different. For whatever reason, riding bikes has always been easier than driving a car to me. In any case, as I explained I can drive perfectly well and safely (well, certainly no worse than your average Toronto driver...), but passing the test isn't entirely about that - it's also about crossing T's and dotting I's and I just want to make sure I'm doing that is all.

Click to expand...

Yes I mistyped. My comment still stands lol. Don't speed and check your mirrors every 10 seconds, move your head so they know. Signal well in advance. Same rules as the M really. Thats it. I suspect you're not giving your skills enough credit.

But can ya parallel park?.....

@ jcbarnar: Yeah, maybe! Then again, I almost blew my M test out of nervousness since I was doing way worse than I normally would. Squeaked by in the end though.

Dirty Frank said:

But can ya parallel park?.....

Click to expand...

Haha, it'll do. Most of my recent practice has all been "feel the size of the car" stuff like that. Since I drive cars so infrequently, I'm always over-paranoid about being too close to other cars for tight parking and such.