Strange Module 2 Failure (not me)

[vtryorks]

I was reading an article online and it reminded me of something that happened on my test day.

The guy testing before me failed his test for something which I consider strange. Well, almost everyone present believed it to be strange, instructors et al.

He left a roundabout onto a dual carriageway, slow moving car in left lane so he performed an overtaking maneuver (correctly). He moved to the right lane and accelerated to 50mph, which was the speed limit. The car driver in the left lane increased his speed at the same time, to 50mph. A line of cars were following close behind the lead car in the left lane. The biker is now sitting in the right hand lane, with traffic (and examiner) behind, doing 50mph.

He failed his test because he stayed out in the right lane.

But what could he do. If he completed the overtake, he'd fail for speeding and pulling in behind the car on the left was not an option due to the proximity of following traffic in both lanes, he'd have moved into their braking zone and failed for that and caused all following traffic to slow down, again, a fail (for traffic following in left lane).

So basically, he was as bad burned as scalded. I do not see that he had done anything wrong at all, particularly considering that the lane was usable for continuing straight on at the next roundabout.

Everyone was bemused when told the reason. Of course I kept my mouth shut at the time.

Oddly, on my test I found myself in exactly the same situation but in a 40mph zone. Luckily for me, there was space to reduce speed and move in behind the car in the left lane. I actually asked the examiner at the end of the test if I had acted correctly. He said that was what he would have done, so yes, I had.

My question to you guys is, what would you do in the situation described above?

Consider you are on test. Under normal circumstances obviously we'd speed up and pull back to the left, but on test you just cant. I cant find anything in the highway code to suggest that the rider acted inappropriately and I don't understand why he failed. I was genuinely gutted for him, particularly since he only had 1 minor otherwise.

[benny hedges]

assuming you have hard knuckle protection on your gloves, the thing to do is put your fist through the driver's mirror and overtake with a pipe bang & wheelie.

does seem a bit odd to fail cos of the reason described.... seems to me the rider used good judgement and the examiner didnt.
that should be an appeal & retest imo.

[Miztaziggy]

I asked about something similar to this when I did my test 4 or 5 years ago.

I was told by the instructors that it would depend on the circumstances, but, they wouldnt fail me for temporarily accelerating above the speed limit to get in front the gradually slowing back down to the limit. It makes sense though as if you are in a 60 and following someone doing 50, then if you want to overtake, it will mean accelerating to more than 60 to get past them safely and quickly.

[vtryorks]

I am unsure if legally you are permitted to exceed the speed limit to complete an overtake. I think it must be legal because otherwise, if you're in mid overtake and a prat decides to increase speed, you cant sit out on a limb all day.

The trouble is, on test, its not just the law which applies, but the DSA Examiners discretion.

It was a very strange situation for sure. We all know what we'd do in real life, but on test, its a weird situation.