What you need to know about the changes to the driving test

Major changes to the driving test will commence from Monday 4 December including the use of a sat nav and removing of some current manoeuvres.
Chesterfield traffic problems.Chesterfield traffic problems.
Chesterfield traffic problems.

According to the DVSA road accidents ‘account for over a quarter of all deaths of those aged between 15-19’.

With the changes to the test they are aiming to lessen the number of young people being killed due to road collisions.

What is staying the same

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The basis of the test will remain the same with it taking around 40 minutes to complete, the pass mark of no more than 15 driving faults or no major faults as well as the cost to complete the test.

What changes are being made

There are four changes to the test including:

Manoeuvres

The manoeuvres in the test are being changed to remove the ‘reverse around a corner’ and ‘turn in the road’.

The possible manoeuvres will now be a parallel park at side of the road, a bay park with either reversing in or reversing out or ‘pulling up on the right-hand side of the road, reversing two car lengths and rejoining the traffic’.

Vehicle safety questions

Before, two questions were asked before your test began however one ‘show me’ question will now needed to be answered during your driving.

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An example question would be to show how to use the windowscreen wipers to wash the screen during driving.

Independent driving

The independent driving part of the test will be increased from 10 minutes to 20, which is around half of the test.

Use of a sat nav

The use of a sat nav will be carried out in the independent part of the test.

The examiner will provide the sat nav and set the route for you. It will not matter if you take a wrong turn but only if you do so safely and not make a fault whilst doing so.

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However be careful all driving tests taken from December 4 2017 will take the new version of the test. This includes people whose test was cancelled and moved after the new test date as well as people who fail their test and therefore have to retake after December 4.

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