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My son went for his driving test. I was present. Naturally I felt he had completed his tasks very well -- he is a very good student at driving. But was told after the event that he "must not turn wide & cross lane markings" We had approached a T junction with a free left turn. Traffic on our right was stopped at the lights. As we turned left we crossed over the broken white lies ( not solid) as it seemed normal to do so. The inspector failed my son as he said it was a critical error? I had never seen it in 50 years of driving a critical error. I don't think the road code points this out as a critical error. And I could take hundreds of photos per day or ring 555 every minute with a dangerous driver dob in - that would keep the phone busy. A high instance of motorists can be seen turning into an outside lane as momentum means it better apex driving rather than trying to do an immigrant 90% assault on a turn when they are in it.. I would challenge any one to drive me around places like St Heliers without going over the lines - even solid white ones. It was muted as the only critical error. Was that fair.?

Hi there,

I have spoken to the driving school team and they have referenced driver discipline is more the case of the test fail. It would seem that maintaining travel within a lane is a priority rule for young drivers to learn. For driver training enquiries please see this link: https://www.aa.co.nz/drivers/learn-to-drive-the-aa-way/

I have sent you another query but have had no reply therefore I assume it got lost in our systems. To repeat then: ( bit long winded I'm sorry but needs it:::

I went to the site where the driver test officer noted the action of travelling over dotted white lines in question. As you approach the T intersection with a free left turn you are facing up hill. the dashes are to your left and then a big gap in front of you till you get to the one on your right. From this angle you can not see a marking. I walked out to the giveway position and although I would be eyeing it from a higher position than a car driver I could not see the lines or gap in between clearly. The line that was at the giveway position was worn out so you could see the position most cars take off from or travel through and tires have ground the white line out. Looking at the first dash you would come to on your left that is also very bitty and ground to a faint line comparted to the next lines ahead. If just a little sprinkle of rain occurred you would not see it at all. Watching traffic I noted 18 out of 20 vehicles breached the line and went into the right lane rather than the immediate left one. It was a fine day.

So in summary I note it is a good "trap" that the officer can use in his point system towards "demerit" points. But then again he designated it a CRITICAL error. The only one my son had. I thought drivers were checked on 2 criticals out and 2 criticals back in during a test? It would be good to see the % of failures recorded from this VTNZ test site.

Then your reply.::Quote " I have spoken to the driving school team and they have referenced driver discipline is more the case of the test fail. It would seem that maintaining travel within a lane is a priority rule for young drivers"

My son is 22 years old -- voting -- boozing -- and can go to war for us. He is in fact a very good driver that does make him appear "too relaxed"
When can he join all the mature drivers that break this "unlisted law?". Should he join the army to get a stint at mature habits on the road.?

Please offer your driving school team a challenge with me to come go thru a couple of intersections with me as the tester. Even given they will have prior knowledge of this "social" rule that is critical for young men , I'd like to shout them a beer if they can do it as required without causing more chaos. Good luck?