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On June 27th 2011 the DSA announced that driving tests will soon be done from a location of your choice, not just a test centre. Pupils can choose to start from a local library, supermarket, hotel, pub or pretty much anywhere that examiners can safely start a test and plan a route that will involve different junctions. This is being trialled in 7 areas of the UK and will be rolled out across the UK from 2012 onwards if successful.

This is great news for those of you who live far away from a test centre. Birmingham has a silly test centre structure with 4 centres within a few miles of each on the east side and just 1 for the west and south! No longer will pupils living in some areas have to travel for over 30 minutes just to reach a test centre.

A leaked document in February 2011 had already showed this and suggested the closure of all test centres in the future which would save the government millions a year in rent and mean cheaper tests for you too. At the moment the DSA say all test centres will remain open but we are sure that once people are given the option of starting from a test centre or elsewhere, 99% will say elsewhere and this will quickly make test centres redundant. Would you rather finish at a test centre or a pub?

See our page  of help and tips on the driving test

2010 changes

The driving test changed on October 4th 2010. It has now been running for several months and it has not made any difference to the test at all in terms of passes.

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 up to 3 directions to follow such as "Take the next left, 2nd right then 3rd 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. This has been designed with dyslexia and other conditions in mind do don't worry if you have to ask for more help.

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 such as shown below 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.

After each set of directions you'll be asked to pull over and given another set. Here are some samples of the kind of diagrams you'll be given.

You are not marked on going the wrong way. 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. You are only marked as normal so hitting a kerb, swerving etc is still bad but your destination is irrelevant.

If you start to go the wrong way, just carry on and then the examiner will help you get back on track. If you're coming up to a roundabout and you miss the sign, just say you haven't seen the sign and go left or continue in whichever lane you're in. You will not fail, you will not be marked down. The whole idea of this part of the test is to simulate being on your own and there will be plenty of times when you miss signs or go the wrong way, it doesn't matter!

So to sum up, the only real difference is that instead of being given step-by-step directions you'll just have to remember up to 3 per time for a short section of the test. This has been done by most instructors for years anyway, it's not unusual to give pupils a few directions to remember.

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.

Tests will now include more things like high streets, right turns and crossroads as there is more time to cover them. As with the independant driving though, this makes no difference if you have learned to drive properly as you should already be able to handle these things.

Theory test questions no longer published - Following the same idea as with the independant driving, too many pupils are just learning the questions and answers to the theory test and missing the information they contain. From September 2011 the questions and answers will no longer be published anywhere. It will now be done as it used to be, you'll have to read books or watch DVD's and remember what they teach you.

We've seen evidence of the problems the current format causes when we ask someone what a road sign means after they've passed their theory test and they answer "I don't know what it means but it's answer C on the theory". In the future, even the multiple choice elements may be removed so you can't just guess the answer.

Driver attitude test - This is currently going through its second phase of testing and is very likely to be introduced in 2011. On your theory test 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?".

If you are classed as having a bad attitude then you will have to retake the whole theory test.

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. Even the DSA themselves have admitted that it does not help new drivers. The scheme is being reviewed and is most likely going to be dropped. Read more about this on our Pass Plus page.

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....yet

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. This is still being encouraged by the ABI (association of British Insurers) and is likely to happen sometime around 2012.

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. This will probably come in sometime over the next few years, most people accept that passing a test once does not mean it should still be valid years later. People change, roads and rules change and it's an idea that will eventually happen one day.

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!