Tag Archives: vancouver driving school

Three New Day Students Pass Point Grey Road Test Today

Today three New Day Vancouver Driving School students passed their road tests at the Point Grey ICBC location. Not only did they pass, in each instance their ICBC driver examiner was very impressed with their performance.

First up was Natalia from Russia. She had been unsuccessful on her first attempt of the Point Grey Class 5 road test some time ago; this time she contacted me in order to try for a happier result. She purchased a package of seven ninety-minute lessons, even though I felt that three or four lessons should be adequate. She really wanted to pass this time, and went for the seven lessons. On successive weekends she diligently followed my advice and focused on the areas that are critical for safe driving and a successful road test. This morning she was a little nervous, but unless something really unusual happened, this to me (I would never tell my student this before the road test) was a guaranteed pass. It was truly a joyful scene in the Point Grey office when she returned from her road test.

The second client was a high school student from Kitsilano Secondary taking the Point Grey Class 7 road test. She was a parent-trained driver, which is not necessarily a bad thing. This young lady was definitely a competent driver, but she hadn’t been taught the things that are crucial to a successful road test. She had originally planned on taking five one-hour lessons, but three proved to be enough for her. After her final lesson yesterday afternoon, I knew she was ready and things should go great. With her mother waiting in the Point Grey office, it was definitely a treat to enjoy the happiness of success.

My final client was Carlos from Brazil taking the Class 5 road test. He had been referred to my by a former Brazilian student. I don’t know exactly why, but all of my Brazilian students have been very successful on their road tests. Carlos was no exception. This was his first attempt, and all he needed was a one-hour lesson a few weeks ago. He went for an hour-long tune-up before his road test, and pulled off his success with just a couple of miscellaneous marks on his road test paper. I am now looking forward to helping his wife prepare for Point Grey road test.

Of course my students don’t always pass; I cannot control what happens on the road. But if you want your best chance of success on the Point Grey road test, try a session with me, Perry, the Point Grey road test expert.

Point Grey Standby Road Test

With about a three-month wait for a road test appointment being the norm, a standby road test is definitely an option. A standby road test is when you go to the ICBC licensing office without an appointment, and if someone doesn’t show up for their appointment, you can take their place.

ICBC seems to feel that a two or three month wait for a road test appointment is acceptable, but many license-seekers do not have the luxury of waiting this long. For a high school student, a driver’s license is not usually a necessity, but some people have a more urgent need for a license. Someone, especially a newcomer to BC, might have an opportunity for a job that requires a driver’s license, and they can’t just tell their prospective employer that they might have a license in three months.

At the Point Grey ICBC office, there is usually a good chance of going out on a standby road test. For example, I was in the office today (with a student who passed her Class 7 road test), and three clients had gone out on standby in the morning. At noon, there was one more person waiting to go out.

If you really want to go out on standby, the key is to get to the office early in the morning, and try to be first on the standby list. Some clients come as early as 6:00 am, or even earlier. Some days there may be several people waiting in front of the office, some days you can show up at 8:00 or later and there will be no one waiting. A couple of weeks ago, one of my students arrived at the office at 5:45 am – he really wanted to go out. When I arrived at the office just before 8:00 to meet him, he was the only person waiting, and he went out on a road test at 8:00.

Standby is definitely a gamble. You might pop into the office and go out right away; you might sit in the office all day and not go out. But the good thing is that the Point Grey office makes an effort to get standbys out, and if you are first or near the top of the list, you should go out.

I don’t usually assist students with standby road tests, as I have to book off the whole morning for them, and the cost for the student is a little prohibitive. But if you want your best shot at passing your Point Grey Class 7 of Class 5 road test, contact me, Perry of New Day Vancouver Driving School, the Point Grey road test expert. I can show you exactly what the examiner is looking for in a successful road test, and hopefully your standby experience will have a happy ending.

A Great Point Grey Road Test Success

I’m always happy when my students pass their road tests, but a recent student’s success gave me particular satisfaction.

A couple of months ago I was contacted by the father of a potential client. Apparently his daughter had attempted the Point Grey Class 5 road test several times and kept failing. She had also had tried a variety of driving teachers, and she felt she wasn’t getting proper instruction.

This client was a little unusual for me – she is a Chinese lady, maybe in her forties, and English was her second language. I don’t get many clients like this, as most adult Chinese students use the services of a Chinese-speaking driving teacher. But her father was getting desperate, and was ready to try something different.

Before her road test the student took ten hours of lessons and diligently attempted to follow my strict guidelines for a successful road test.  She wasn’t the greatest driver, but I felt she definitely could pass as long as she was disciplined in the critical areas that I had pointed out. She also needed a confidence boost after her previous instructors were eager to point out her deficiencies and offered no positive reinforcement.

I would like to share the letter the student’s father sent me after her successful road test:

Dear Perry:

It was a great pleasure when I heard my daughter Jin had passed her road test yesterday. Now she is able to accomplish her dream of being a qualified car driver with a legal driver license of Vancouver. This will certain have good influence to her future career and living here. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to you for your excellent teaching and specific help to Jin. In last few years Jin learned driving from several teachers, but none of them could teach so excellently as you did. As I know, you designed a ten hour plan for Jin after the first interview and an hour of driving. During the training, you actively explained every detail of driving, encourage her when she did right, explained and helped her to correct when there was an error or she did not so well. This also reestablished her confidence. As a result she could pass her road test after so many times of failure. I wish to tell everybody that you, Mr. Perry Lamarche is an Excellent Teacher and the New Day Driving School is a High Quality Driving School!

Sincerely

John Yang

I can’t guarantee success on the road test, but I can guarantee that if my students strictly follow my advice, they will have a much greater chance. If you are taking the Point Grey Class 7 or Class 5 road test, a session with me, Perry, of New Day Vancouver Driving School will go a long way towards a happy ending.

 

 

Road Test Myths

As a Vancouver driving teacher, there are a few common road test myths that I hear on a regular basis from my clients. Fortunately for these students who are preparing for their Point Grey Class 7 or Class 5 road tests, I am able to quell their worries about these misconceptions.

I was with a student last night from North Vancouver who was preparing for her Point Grey Class 7 road test. She told me about someone who had failed her road test because another driver honked at her. Believe it or not, a lot of people think that honking is a cause of failure on the road test. Just imagine, you know someone who is taking their driving test and you want them to fail – just follow them and honk. You might do something bad on your road test that causes someone to honk, but it is the bad thing that causes the fail, not the honk.

Another common myth is that you fail your road test if you touch the curb while parking. The truth is that you only fail if you hit the curb hard enough to damage the car. A bump or scrape against the curb should be no problem. When my students are practicing, I let them touch the curb (unlike other teachers who are afraid of getting a scratch on their hubcaps). If you get an entire tire up on the curb or sidewalk, that would also be a fail, but if only half the width of the tire gets up there, it should not be a fail. Try to stay off the sidewalk, and you should be okay.

Then there are the drivers who fail for driving too slow, because someone told them that if you go over the speed limit it is an automatic fail. They are so focused on going under fifty that they are oblivious to the traffic lined up behind them as they are crawling down the road. During driving lessons with New Day Vancouver Driving School, I will let you know the appropriate speed to drive at for your Point Grey road test, and it definitely is not 40 km on main roads under ideal conditions.

Finally, there is the classic myth that the examiner automatically fails you if it is your first road test. Of course this is ridiculous, as New Day Vancouver Driving School regularly prove on their Point Grey road tests. The truth is that the examiner usually has no idea if it’s your first or fifth road test, unless you’re one of the examinees who keeps failing, and all of the examiners get to know you. The examiner should not be asking you before the road test if it’s your first time, as this information is irrelevant to your road test.

Before your Point Grey road test, try a session with New Day Vancouver Driving School. Whether it’s your first or fifth attempt, give yourself your best chance with some valuable instruction from the one Vancouver driving teacher who is the true road test expert, me, Perry, of New Day Vancouver Driving School.

 

 

Broadway and MacDonald on the Point Grey Road Test

The Point Grey road test area is full of notorious left turns, but the one that I feel is consistently the most problematic is at the intersection of Broadway and MacDonald.

On your Point Grey Class 7 road test, you may find yourself in this intersection waiting for a safe gap to turn left. You’ll finally see a safe gap in the oncoming traffic and start your turn, but suddenly a pedestrian racing for the bus enters the crosswalk on your left. You have to stop, and you are blocking the now oncoming traffic. Actually, the pedestrians don’t usually run into the crosswalk here – they usually casually saunter, lollygag, or dillydally, taking their sweet time, green light, red light, they don’t care if you’re on a driving test.

At this intersection, it is typical that only one vehicle is able to turn left during the cycle of a traffic light. You’ll be facing a line of left-turning vehicles. There are no cars going straight, the crosswalk on the left is clear (rare), and you start your turn. Suddenly a car shoots out of the left-turning lineup, coming right at you. Hopefully you see this before the examiner does.

Or you see a safe gap in the oncoming traffic, start to proceed and now a car comes out of the Safeway parking lot across the intersection. You are able to stop in time, but now you have some pedestrians in the crosswalk on your left. The light turns yellow, then red, and the pedestrians are still crossing. You start moving towards the crosswalk, and now you’re facing some dude turning right very late, blocking you from completing your turn. The traffic on your left and right now have a green light and are honking at you.

You somehow get through the intersection and now are on MacDonald. There is a vehicle in front of you trying to turn left into an alley over a painted traffic divider. You are stuck there while a steady stream of vehicles is now passing you on the right. The left-turning vehicle has finally turned, and all of those passing vehicles are cutting in front of you because their lane is about to end. The madness just continues.

Believe it or not, even as messy as this intersection can be, there is another one in the Point Grey road test area that several driver examiners have told me is the worst. If you’re taking the Point Grey Class 7 or Point Grey Class 5 road test, let New Day Vancouver Driving School (me, Perry) help you. I can show you where all the fun stuff is, all the usual places that examinees fail. Give yourself your best chance of passing the Point Grey road test by taking a lesson with the Vancouver driving teacher that is the Point Grey road test expert, me, Perry, of New Day Vancouver Driving School.

Perils of Pedestrians on the Point Grey Road Test

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.

Maybe Your Driving Doesn't Suck

Yesterday and today I had customers who successfully passed their road tests, a Class 7 and a Class 5, at the Point Grey licensing office. I was particularly gratified with their results because of the events leading up to their road tests.

Today’s student had already taken the Class 7 road test and failed. She had been taking lessons with another driving school, and her instructor, in my opinion, was less than professional. Apparently he was reluctant to give any positive feedback. Criticism, definitely not constructive, was the foundation of his instruction. Then the road test – the examiner was definitely not Miss Congeniality that day. She made it clear that the student’s driving sucked, and the teacher was able to gloat and say, “I told you so.” But when I saw her driving, I thought, no problem, she should pass her road test. She had a couple of areas that needed fine-tuning, needed a boost in her confidence, but otherwise was good to go. Her practice before the road test was great, she was confident, and she pulled it off. It wasn’t a perfect road test, but the examiner saw what I did – someone who was definitely qualified to drive on her own.

Yesterday’s student was an S.F.U. student originally from Macau. She had already taken her Class 5 road test twice in Burnaby, with unsuccessful results both times. Again the examiners wanted her to know that her driving sucked. So what’s the problem? She, like most examinees, felt that she should have passed. Her confidence had taken a hit.

The student lives in Burnaby, but was able to get a road test appointment in Point Grey, so she decided to give it a shot there. Looking for a Vancouver driving school, she contacted New Day Driving School (me), the Point Grey road test expert. We spent some time going over the Point Grey road test routes and working on the areas that needed to be addressed. On her road test yesterday, she got the same examiner who my other student failed with. Again, the examiner agreed with my assessment – this young lady was definitely qualified to drive on her own, and she passed her road test. It’s amazing how a little confidence can turn things around.

It can be discouraging and frustrating to fail your road test, especially if your driving teacher is not supportive, and the driver examiner is intent on letting you know how brutal your driving is. It is easy to lose your confidence without someone on your side. One of my goals is to build your confidence and have you attend your road test ready and confident that you can pass. If you are planning on taking the Point Grey road test, give yourself the New Day advantage. And if your driving sucks, at least I’ll tell you in a nice way.

 

"Dangerous Driver" Passes Road Test

As a driving instructor, I am not allowed to make comments about driver examiners. For example, before a road test, I never tell my students my feelings about the potential examiners. You see the examiners huddled together, and the examinee wonders, “Which one am I going to get? I hope I get a nice one.” I tell my students that they’re all the same, but of course they’re not. After the road test, my students always tell me about their road test experience and the behaviour of the examiner during the test. This is not Las Vegas – what happens on the road test does not stay on the road test.

Recently one of my students came for her road test using her own car. In the pre-trip portion of the road test, instead of turning on the headlights when requested, she turned on the parking lights. Well, the examiner apparently did not like this. During the road test, the examiner, according to the student, kept badgering her to find out who her driving instructor was. She basically told him that this information was irrelevant to the road test at hand. He then proceeded to give his opinions about the driver training industry, and how he was very unhappy with the poor level of instruction these days. They can’t even teach their students how to turn on their headlights. He mentioned the name of one driving instructor and asked her if that was her teacher. She told him that she didn’t know who that person was, but no, this examiner would not let the topic go. The stressful road test had another layer of pressure added.

Now, let’s go to the end of the road test. The car is parked, and now is the time the examiner is supposed to give his verdict. Not this one; he proceeded to point out the examinee’s shortcomings and tell her that she was a “dangerous driver.” She assumed that she had failed. He then told her to come into the office so he could take her picture. What the hell? Did she pass? What’s going on? Inside the office, she eventually realized that she had passed.

When my client related this bizarre adventure to me, she expressed her astonishment with the whole experience. Why was the examiner so concerned about who had taught her how to drive? (She had learned from her brother-in-law, with some extra help from me.) Why did she pass if she was a “dangerous driver”? Why didn’t the examiner tell her at the end of the road test that she had passed? Anyway, all this goes to show that you can pass your road test even if the examiner thinks you are a “dangerous driver”.

Now a word from our sponsor: New Day Vancouver Driving School conducts driving lessons in the city of Vancouver. We teach beginning drivers. We can help you prepare for the Class 7 or Class 5 road test. If you have failed your road test, we can help you get on the path to successful re-attempt. Take control of your driving with the road test expert – New Day Vancouver Driving School.