⛔ Instant-fail mistakes
Our instructor's 17 grievous mistakes — why each is dangerous and how to avoid it on test day, plus the five-same-minor-mistakes rule.
This is the list our driving school's instructor gives to every learner: the "grievous mistakes" — do any of them once and you fail the test. The examiner notes minor faults, but a single serious or dangerous fault decides the result, however good the rest of the drive was. Read every point, understand why it matters, and practise how to avoid it consciously during your lessons.
The 17 grievous mistakes
1. Steering and hand signals
Why: With crossed hands you cannot correct the steering quickly in an emergency. Flashing lights and hand waves have no official meaning; the other driver cannot tell whether you mean 'go' or 'watch out', and that can cause a crash.
How to avoid it: Steer with the push–pull method: one hand pushes up, the other pulls down, hands stay between ten and two. If you want to let someone go, simply stop and wait — don't wave, don't flash.
2. Mounting pavements, islands and lines
Why: The pavement belongs to pedestrians; a wheel on it shows you have lost control of the car's position. Continuous white lines and painted islands separate traffic; crossing them puts you in the opposite lane or a danger zone.
How to avoid it: Reduce speed early before turns and start steering at the right moment for the junction. Make a habit of checking where your nearside wheel is in relation to the kerb using the mirror. When you need to get close to the kerb to park, go very slowly.
3. Examiner intervention
Why: It means the examiner had to prevent a danger — so a dangerous situation existed.
How to avoid it: See hazards early and slow down early. If in doubt, stop. Never give the examiner a reason to brake: windscreen, mirrors, planning ahead.
4. Five of the same minor mistake
Why: A single minor fault is human; repeating it shows it is a habit that will continue after the test. The most common: lifting the handbrake without pressing the button, signalling at the exit before yours, forgetting to cancel the indicator, skipping mirror checks.
How to avoid it: Ask your instructor which of your faults keeps repeating and fix it deliberately. Handbrake: press the button, lift, release. Signals: don't signal left until you have passed the exit before yours.
5. Speed: too fast and too slow are both faults
Why: Excess speed lengthens your stopping distance. Driving too slowly holds up traffic, tempts impatient drivers into dangerous overtakes and shows the examiner you lack confidence.
How to avoid it: Read the signs constantly: 50 km/h built-up, 80 km/h elsewhere, some roads 30, 60 or 70. When conditions allow, drive at a safe speed close to the limit. Doing 25 on an empty, clear 50 km/h road is also a fault.
6. No entry, STOP and red lights
Why: These are direct collision risks. At a STOP sign the wheels must stop completely; rolling through slowly is not stopping.
How to avoid it: At the STOP line bring the car to a complete stop, pause a second, look right and left, then go. Read the time plates under signs (e.g. no entry on school days). Amber also means stop if you can do so safely.
7. One metre from parked cars
Why: A door can open suddenly or a child can step out between cars. One metre gives you room to react.
How to avoid it: If the road is narrow and you can't leave a metre, cut your speed seriously. If there is oncoming traffic and the obstruction is on your side, stop and give way.
8. Parked cars and hidden pedestrians
Why: The examiner is testing your hazard awareness. A driver who doesn't anticipate these hazards notices them too late.
How to avoid it: Look for people inside parked cars, exhaust smoke, indicators, wheels turning. Watch for feet visible under vehicles. Keep your foot ready over the brake.
9. Stopping in front of an exit
Why: Blocking an exit is illegal and endangers anyone trying to come out. It also shows you are not planning ahead.
How to avoid it: When traffic slows, look ahead: if the gap in front of you lines up with an exit, stop before it and leave it clear. When the examiner says 'pull up on the left when it's safe', choose a spot with no exit, bus stop or yellow line.
10. Left lane on a two-lane road
Why: In Malta we drive on the left; the right lane is for overtaking and turning right. Staying in the right lane for no reason confuses traffic and encourages undertaking.
How to avoid it: Move to the right lane to overtake or turn right, then return to the left with MSPSL. Choose lanes at roundabouts and junctions according to the road markings.
11. Endangering others when changing lanes
Why: A motorcycle or car in your blind spot may not appear in the mirror. A lane change without mirror and shoulder checks is the classic serious fault.
How to avoid it: Interior mirror, relevant door mirror, signal, quick shoulder check for the blind spot, then move smoothly. If another vehicle would have to brake for you, don't move — wait.
12. 50 metres from lights and zebras
Why: The light can change or a pedestrian can step onto the crossing. With your foot ready your reaction time is shorter; the mirror tells you how close the car behind is.
How to avoid it: Lift off the accelerator and hover over the brake. Check the mirror. Scan both sides of the crossing. If in the last few metres nobody is waiting and the light is green, carry on positively.
13. Stopping in a yellow box junction
Why: If you get stuck in the box, you lock up the crossing traffic when the lights change.
How to avoid it: Before entering, make sure there is room for your whole car beyond the box on your exit. Exception: when turning right you may wait in the box if you are only held up by oncoming traffic.
14. Overtaking
Why: Overtaking puts you in the opposite lane — the riskiest manoeuvre. Without a clear view you cannot see oncoming vehicles.
How to avoid it: Remember that on the test you rarely need to overtake: if a slow vehicle holds you up, keep a safe distance. If you must pass a stationary vehicle (e.g. a parked van), wait until the opposite side is clear.
15. Waiting at a zebra crossing
Why: A foot holding the clutch can slip and the car can lurch towards the pedestrian. Moving off while the pedestrian is still mid-road frightens them and is dangerous.
How to avoid it: Stop, handbrake, neutral. Follow the pedestrians with your eyes. When the last one steps onto the pavement, select first gear, check mirrors, then move off. Never wave people across — just stop and wait.
16. Following distance
Why: If the car in front rolls back or breaks down, you have room to go around it. The gap covers your thinking distance as well as your braking distance.
How to avoid it: When the car in front passes a post, say 'only a fool breaks the two-second rule'. If you reach the post before you finish, you're too close. When stopped, you should see its rear tyres and some tarmac.
17. In tunnels
Why: Entering a tunnel you are almost blind for a few seconds until your eyes adjust; sunglasses make this much worse. There is no escape route in a tunnel.
How to avoid it: Take your sunglasses off before the tunnel, switch on dipped headlights (Santa Venera and Kappara tunnels), keep a steady speed and stay in your lane.
What they all have in common
Almost all 17 points rest on three habits: observation (mirrors, blind spots, reading the road ahead), planning (slowing early, choosing in advance where you will stop) and control (smooth steering, the right speed). Make these habits during your lessons and on test day you won't even have to think about them.
