On the Point Grey road test, other than other road users, pedestrians are definitely the number one obstacle between examinees and a successful road test.

There is a notorious left turn on a couple of Point Grey driving test routes, the intersection of Broadway and MacDonald, that has been the downfall of innumerable license seekers. It’s a classic set-up for a fail: the examinee is waiting in the intersection for a safe gap to complete a left turn. The driver gets a nice, safe gap and starts the turn, and then, bam, a pedestrian jogs into the crosswalk on the left that the examinee is approaching. The driver is forced to stop and now is blocking the traffic that has suddenly arrived. Fail. At this intersection, when you’re waiting to turn and the light turns yellow and red, the pedestrians are still lollygagging in the crosswalk. These pedestrians are doing everything within their power to screw up your road test.

Another classic fail is when the examinee fails to stop when approaching a pedestrian who is in an “unmarked crosswalk”. Almost every time I explain an “unmarked crosswalk” to one of my students, they are totally unaware that there is such a thing. (I won’t explain an unmarked crosswalk here, but after one of my lessons, you will definitely understand.) Most drivers just blast past the hapless pedestrians who are legally trying to cross the street, thinking that they are jaywalking. Genuine jaywalkers are another bump on the road (hopefully not literally) in the path of a successful road test. You’re cruising down Broadway and some dude is meandering across the street in front of you – to stop or not to stop, that is the question.

Then there is the examinee turning right at a stop sign in an intersection where the cross-traffic has a pedestrian controlled traffic light. The examinee is looking left, waiting for a safe gap to make the turn. They see their gap, start to make the turn, totally oblivious to the pedestrian on their right who has pushed the button and changed the light. The light turns red, the driver starts the turn and the examiner shouts “stop” and points at the pedestrian now in the crosswalk in front of the examinee. Another sad but classic road test fail.

If you plan on taking the Point Grey Class 7 or Class 5 road test, I would strongly recommend a session with New Day Vancouver Driving School (that would be me) before your road test. The perils of pedestrians and other hazards on the Point Grey road test are endless, and I can help you navigate through them. Unlike some of my competition I can’t guarantee that you’ll pass the road test, but I can definitely get you prepared for what you can expect, and for what the examiner expects for a successful result.