I had my Driving test in Belgium today. The test comprised of 2 parts. A Manoeuver part and On-the-road part. The Manoeuver part consisted of parking in between two vehicles in reverse, Coming out of garage, Turning back in a narrow road, Passing through a narrow passage in reverse. I successfully cleared it. Having passed this phase, I was asked to pick a card from a bunch [for choosing the location of test]. I picked up a card and was happy to see a neighbouring town come up on that.

I was ready to begin the next-phase. This time there were people accompanying me in the car. There was an instructor to my right, an examiner on the back right and a translator on back left. The instructor was there just to use emergency brakes in case anything went wrong. He may not do anything else, otherwise a beep will be heard..Since the examiner gave the instructions in dutch, I had to take the service of Translator (had to pay him 30 Euros for that!)..So it was a full house in the car. I carefully digested the instructions that came through translator and acted accordingly. Everything was going fine until I came across a market fair. There was a traffic diversion and I couldn’t decipher which path to take. Examiner was silent. I noticed a No entry sign and decided to turn left. I overlooked a direction arrow beneath the no entry sign. Due to this I ended up taking a wrong route! Due to the nervousness caused by this, I turned to the left in the next junction, without using indicators. Though I was sure that no vehicle was behind me, it is a serious offence to turn so without indicating. I knew then and there that I am flunked…The remaining part of the test went lifeless, mechanical. Towards the end of the test, I stalled the vehicle and I had to restart the vehicle..I totally lost my cool, and did many minor mistakes..one-too-many…

After the test, the examiner announced his results with reasons why I failed. He was ok with all my other mistakes, but not using indicators while turning was a serious offence and he was not ready to overlook that. He failed me on the “on-the-road” test..Fair enough!

I have a certificate which says I have passed the Manoeuver part but failed the Road test. I don’t have time to take the test again, as I am leaving for India on March 24th. Atleast I utilised the oppurtunity well by learning to drive a car. If I had practiced with my own car, I would have passed. Lack of practice is the only reason I can attribute the failure to…It’s a pity that my company which decided to sponsor my test couldn’t provide me a car temporarily to practice…No regrets anyway…Was an experience