Epic fail

Because the theory section of the test is virtually unfailable, people are taught to drive by parents and or instructors who spout bullshit all day long and 21 is plenty old enough to have learned to act like a complete tosspot within and without a motorised vehicle.

I used to work with someone who filed their theory test 7 times. You can't explain that.

The theory test doesn't really seem to pay enough attention to the issue of cyclists on the road, to be honest you can pass it by learning the structure of the questions and a couple of important numbers like stopping distances, rather than actually learning the highway code. I think when I did it there was only one question on it about cyclists, and that was about them being able to go slowly around the outside of a roundabout and that you should hang back and wait for them to exit. As far as the process of learning to drive and the practical test goes, its all to easy to never come across the issue of what to do when you come up on a cyclist especially if you're learning from parents. I was lucky - taught by a professional and came up on a cyclist a couple of times at which point he absolutely laid down the law that I needed to stay well clear of the cyclist and give them a full lane when passing, and this stuck with me (this was a while before I had taken up cycling again). Its one of the big failings in the system, its all too easy to pass your test and be allowed freely onto the roads without ever having learned how to correctly act when you come up on a cyclist, even if you've been properly taught by a professional.