1stDrive.com

The new driving test starts October 4th 2010

In late 2008 it was decided by the government that to coincide with the driving tests 75th birthday, it should be made harder and more thorough in an attempt to cut the number of new drivers involved in accidents. Offical figures show that 1 in 5 new drivers dies or is seriously injured in a car crash within 6 months of passing their test and that new drivers are 10 times more likely to be involved in an accident than an experienced driver.

28th July 2010 update - All test centres in Birmingham are now fully booked until the last week in September. If you don't already have a test booked then it is now too late to take the old test unless you are lucky enough to be offered a cancelled test.

We'll be attending a meeting in early September where full details of all the new elements of the new test will be shown and discussed. We'll update the site with the info from that meeting as soon as we can.

How the test is changing

Independent driving - For about 10 minutes of the test you'll be asked to drive on your own without any help from the examiner while the car is moving. The examiner will ask you to park the car and then will give you 2 or 3 directions to follow such as "Take the next left then the 2nd right". They may alternatively just ask you to drive to the nearest train station or an area of the city which will be sign posted. You do not need to know the area, read maps or use a sat nav. Any locations you're asked to drive to will be signed.

Another way it will be done is a mixture of directions and instructions such as "Take the 3rd left, 2nd right and then follow road signs to Kings Norton railway station". For some of these directions you'll be given a very basic diagram to help recognise the layout of the roads you'll come across. The examiner can write down the place name so you know how it's spelt on signs, if you want them to do this then just ask.

It doesn't matter how many wrong turns you make or if you end up in completely the wrong place. The worst thing you can do on this part of the test is to suddenly change your mind. Let's say you're approaching a left turn and at the last minute you see the sign saying that's the way you want to go. Carrying on will just mean you take a different route, suddenly braking and swerving can cause chaos.

If you start to go the wrong way, just carry on and then the examiner will help you get back on track. Everyone makes mistakes and takes wrong turns and that's the idea of this part of the test. It will show you how to avoid making so many mistakes and how to deal with going the wrong way if you should. It's really nothing to worry about.

Although this might seem new, any instructor who is any good will have been teaching this skill for years anyay. Anyone who's had lessons with us has been taught to follow signs and plan their own routes. This part of the test is not a punishment for learners, more a way of bringing poor driving schools up to standard and making sure this skill isn't skipped over to save time and rush learners through a test.

Manouever changes - You will only do one manouever on a test instead of two. Current test routes are based on having to stick around quiet housing estates so there are enough opportunities to do manouevers. This will give you the chance to travel much further away from the centre so you may well drive in areas you have never seen before which will prove you are not just memorising test roads and routes.

Driver attitude test - This is currently going through its second phase of testing and is very likely to be introduced. You'll be asked questions such as "You smashed into a parked car while driving, should you report it or drive off?" or "You ran over someone's dog while driving. On a scale of 1 to 10, how bad do you feel about this?".

This will be done as part of the theory test so if you are deemed to have a bad attitude then you will have to retake the whole theory test.

Instructor translation - Up until 2010 it was not allowed for instructors to sit in on tests and translate the examiners instructions for fear of them passing on information to the pupil and aiding them in a language the examiner can't understand. This rule has now been dropped so instructors can sit in the back and assist non-English speaking pupils. Instructor tests must still be done in English or Welsh.

Pass Plus overhaul - The Pass Plus scheme is years out of date and in it's current form it offers little to learners who have learnt with a good instructor. The scheme is being reviewed and is facing an overhaul which will see new elements added such as assessing a pupils attitude and developing skills in new areas.

Lower drink driving limit - The drink-drive limit may be lowered to 50mg per 100ml for experienced drivers and only 20mg per 100ml for new drivers. This means that drinking just half a pint of normal beer would most likely put you over the limit. It makes sense that if you plan on driving you just don't drink at all.

Observer driver - From April 5th 2010 you'll be asked if you want your instructor to go on the test and whether you want them present at the end of test debreif. See the video below for more info on this. 

The changes that didn't happen

Here are just some of the changes that were going to happen which have now been scrapped.

Minimum learning time - There was going to be a legal requirement for all learners to take at least 12 months worth of lessons before they could take a test. This would have put us in line with the rest of Europe which has this rule. Although it has not officially been scrapped, nothing has been heard of this for over a year now.

Retesting - All drivers would have had to retake their driving test every 5 or 10 years. After doing research on this, the DSA said there was no evidence it would raise the standard of driving on the UK's roads.

Compulsary observer driver - It was going to be made compulsory for instructors to go on all tests with all pupils but after huge appeals against this it was overturned. Examiners didn't like the idea of being watched all the time and both instructors and pupils thought it was unfair to force you to take us with you. It may be made compulsary in the future once a review into it's effectiveness has been done but for the moment it's on hold. 

Motorways on tests - This was not brought in because it just isn't possible in some areas to get to a motorway. If you live in some parts of Scotland for example, it can be a 2 hour drive just to get to a motorway!

Copyright �2005-2010 1stDrive.com