A Simple Test

You are going on holiday to the South of France by coach.  There are two drivers as usual for this type of journey and both, of course, have category D on their driving licence. Driver A, known as Lucky, passed his test after a mid-morning, post rush-hour drive that threw up few challenges. In fact, the glorious sunshine and lack of traffic meant that he almost enjoyed the experience.  He was well rehearsed for the set pieces, pulling into bus stops etc, and accrued only a handful of faults on the examiners fault finding sheet.  None were considered serious.  Driver B, who every one called Second Time Lucky, took his test in the late afternoon, battling with the school run and some pretty foul weather.  He was presented with numerous challenges, all of which he dealt with but not after some furious pen work by his examiner.  During one of these he scored a serious fault and failed the test.  His second attempt was a totally different affair. The roads were quieter and the other drivers around him seemed far better behaved.  In the end, to his relief, he was indeed second time lucky.

The question is, which driver would you rather have behind the wheel, Lucky or Second Time Lucky?  They both have licences for the vehicle but has one been examined to a higher level than the other?  Has one proven himself a driver more able to deal with a wider range of challenges, and more importantly, has one not been tested sufficiently?  My own answer is that I wouldn`t, without sitting behind each one of them for a while, choose either.  Not that I would be fault finding, it`s just that I would want to assess how Lucky and Second Time Lucky actually drive.  Finding fault is easy - and, let`s be honest, it can be quite enjoyable - in fact you can become so engrossed in it that all common sense and reason goes out the window. Assessment is far more accurate if you look at what people do right and not what they do wrong, particularly when it comes to dealing with problems. A satisfactory driver is one that generally does everything they should while demonstrating genuine ability with the vehicle. It wouldn`t matter to me if one drove in a small town and the other in a large city: just by watching, I`d know if they were competent or not.