Hazard perception

In which a driving test puts me back in courier mode

Hello all,

I forgot to update you last week, but for those who have been wondering, yes I did pass my driving theory test, despite my concerns about hazard perception.

I have always been a massive swot, so by the time I say down for my test I had spent weeks working my way through textbooks, apps and flashcards, and taken numerous mock tests online. I got to the stage where I could reliably pass the multiple-choice segment, but I only ever got average marks for hazard perception, despite assuming that I’d sail through this part. After all, unlike many people taking the test, I had several years of real-life hazard perception training under my belt, courtesy of my courier job.

Photo by Selim Korycki

Scanning the horizon for potential threats was something I’d got good enough at to actively enjoy it, so I couldn’t understand why I was barely scraping through the online tests. Eventually I worked out that in some cases I was anticipating the hazard too early (and therefore getting zero marks), and in other cases I was being penalised for clicking too often. (Danger lurks at every turn, I would argue.) In the end I didn’t get a particularly high mark for the test, but I passed, and that’s all that matters.

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But ever since then I’ve been thinking about how I read the road. My driving lessons seems to have reinvigorated a skillset I once developed to a very high level, but haven’t had the chance to use very much in recent years. Riding a fixed-gear bike at high speed through busy traffic is quite a specific talent, and not one that has very many useful or lucrative real-world applications – but oh god, I loved it so much while I did it. It was intoxicating to feel so capable; to be surrounded by what many would consider chaos, and yet somehow to be in control.