Driving skills test - must signal for 300 FEET before changing lanes?? Other particulars.

In My Humble Opinion
1

My driver’s license expired (stupid me, ***never ***going to let that happen again) while I was too sick to drive and now that I’m doing better, I’m trying to get my driver’s license.

Between when I first got my license and now, the DMV in my area (Maryland) added an on-road portion, which I failed (also stupid of me - I was at an intersection where I couldn’t see traffic unless I pulled up past the stop line, so I did, without stopping at the line first and *then *pulling up :smack:).

I really can’t fail this time, and I figure I should be as by-the-book and anal as possible.

However, this signaling 300 feet before changing lanes thing seems dangerously stupid and unnecessary to me. Won’t other drivers assume I accidentally turned my signal on or changed my mind or something? Will I be failed if I don’t signal this long? Or should I just assume that I should start signaling as soon as the test person tells me to change lanes and then change lanes at the next opportunity? Do I really need to wait 300 feet between being told to change lanes and trying to do so?

Also, should I strictly obey the speed limit even if it impedes the flow of traffic? I’m assuming the answer to this is yes. How much leniency do I have before I’m technically speeding to the point that I could be failed/lose points? 3 mph or so? Or even less? What about going a little under the speed limit, will that cost me points? Am I permitted to speed up a little to change lanes if necessary?

When you’re in a roundabout, and you’re taking the second (or third, etc) exit, should you only signal once you’ve passed the first exit/exit right before yours (so as not to confuse people?) Or is that not considered signaling long enough (you’re supposed to signal for 100 feet before turning)?

Last one, I promise: when backing up, should I turn my head really far to look over my right shoulder and keep it that way, or alternate between looking over my left and right shoulders?

Thank you. I’m really anxious about this, as you can probably tell.

2

Well, at 60 m/h, that is only 3 1/2 seconds, which doesn’t seem outrageous to me. However, this is the sort of thing, that is much more suitable to being expressed in units of time instead of distance.

If you’re going 10 m/h in a school zone, you would be signalling for 20 seconds which is silly.
Sort of like they used to tell you to stay so many car lengths behind the car in front of you, but the # of car lengths was different for different speeds. Now they just tell you to maintain a 2 second delay. Just makes more sense.
<Edited to answer your other questions, these are my opinions only>

“Or should I just assume that I should start signaling as soon as the test person tells me to change lanes and then change lanes at the next opportunity?”

This is what I would do.

Also, strictly obey the speed limit. If you’re impeding traffic, then you should be over in the far right lane. I don’t see why going a little under the speed limit in the right lane would cost you points. In a roundabout, don’t start signalling until you’ve past the previous exit to avoid confusion. I would think these trumps the number of feet rule.
Don’t alternate between left and right shoulders (although I doubt there is a rule for that).

3

I took my road test in Maryland and backed up by putting my hand on the back of the passenger seat and looking over my right shoulder the whole time. That seemed to satisfy the examiner.

Of course, that was on a course. Maryland has an on-road test now? I got my license in January 2005, so it wasn’t that long ago.

Edit: And my brother got his in June 2007 and did it only on a course, so this must be a really recent thing. Weird.

4

Yeah, I was thinking more of slower speeds. Thank you for your advice, I’ll go with it!

Yeah, it’s new this year. If I recall correctly, they plan to have it implemented at all Maryland locations by fall and it seems to be at most of them already. Thank you for your input! I’ll probably go with that backing up strategy.

5

Do other states require you to take the tests again if you let your license expire? I’ve never heard of such a thing.

6

If you have the time and the $$, I strongly recommend taking a 1-2 hour class with a driving instructor. It cost us about $125. The instructors know exactly what the examiners are looking for. My son did this and learned so much that he passed the road test with one of the highest scores ever. All the time was in the car, practicing. Examples of things I would not have known: They expect you to examine the car from outside to make sure no tires are flat, to check your mirrors, to signal during the various phases of a three-point turn in mid-block even when there is no one around, the lane signalling thing, etc. These fine points were so helpful and we would not have picked them up from the pamphlets.

7

Back way back when, when I did it in TX, they also expected you to signal while doing the parallel parking. Signal right while maneuvering into the space. Signal left when exiting the parking spot. Check your handbook!

8

What I’m wondering is–why in the world would you not do this? People aren’t freakin’ mind readers! :confused:

9

I totally agree. It drives me absolutely nuts when people don’t signal. I asked a couple of my friends who don’t signal why they don’t. One said, “I don’t have to signal if I’m going faster.” The other said, “It’s none of anyone else’s business where I’m going!” Both answers pissed me off. Neither applied any logic whatsoever to driving and the second made me wonder where he was going that he was so defensive about or if he truly was that paranoid.

As far as the OP, how far out do you think it’s appropriate to signal? For what it’s worth, I can’t even picture 300 feet. If I’m going slowly on a large city block, I usually signal about 1/3 to the end; if I’m on the highway, probably about 1/8 of a mile before the exit. I think. It’s usualy halfway between when I see the 1/4 sign and the actual exit, sometimes more if I’m going fast.

10

I agree, but for some reason it’s easy to forget those details when you’re in the little test parking lot area instead of on the street and you’re trying to focus on the whole parking thing.

11

I have trouble picturing it too, and distances in general. I think 3-5 seconds for changing lanes sounds good, longer for turning (maybe 5-8?) since that requires other people being prepared to slow down. Seems like it’d be enough reaction time and not so long as to be confusing or annoying.

12

I remember one question I got wrong years ago. It basically asked when entering a highway from the left, what shoulder should you look over to see if it was clear to merge. Somehow I got confused and answered wrong. Later I thought how dumb the question was. Who, in real life, would enter a highway from the left and look for traffic over the wrong shoulder, like at the side of the road with trees and stuff, instead of the actual highway!

13

Holy shit! This is why I stay off the road as much as possible. There are crazy people out there.