The Driving School with a Difference…

Archive for the ‘Driving Practical Test’ Category

Independent driving

From October 4th 2010 the UK driving test will contain a new element – independent driving.

For about 10 minutes of the test you’ll be asked to drive on your own without any help from the examiner. At some point during your test the examiner will ask you to pull up, then you will given up to 3 directions to follow such as “Take the next left, 2nd right then 3rd right”.

You may just be asked to drive to the nearest train station or an area of the city following road signs. You do not need to know the area, read maps or use a sat nav as destinations you’re given will be signposted.

You may also be given a mixture of directions and instructions such as “Take the 3rd left, 2nd right and then follow road signs to the 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.

This has been designed with dyslexia and other conditions in mind don’t worry if you have to ask for more help. You can ask the examiner to write down the place name so that you can easily spot it on road signs.
After each set of directions you’ll be asked to pull over and given another set.
It is important to realise that you are not penalised for going the wrong way. It doesn’t matter how many wrong turns you make or if you end up in completely the wrong place, providing you make all your turns correctly. 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 to make the turn could be very dangerous!

If you start to go the wrong way, just carry on and 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. Don’t suddenly change your mind!

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 instructions at a time, or follow signs, or a combination of both. Good instructing should include plenty of independent driving to build your confidence and competence to ‘go it alone’..

As the test will now include only one manoeuvre, there will be time to venture further on test rather than sticking to the housing estates. You may well drive in areas you have never seen before which will show you are not just memorising test roads and routes.

The D.S.A. are proposing that in the learner driver’s test the pupil will not only have an examiner in the car but also a third person (instructor, parent or friend) in the back of the car for extra weight.  So how can this be practiced easily?  If you’ve got your own car and enough passengers to take out on a regular basis it’s no problem.  In a driving lesson, this may be more difficult if you’re taking lessons in your lunch break, free period evening or weekend as your instructor will have to arrange to have someone else in the car.  The third person could be a friend but this may be off-putting for the pupil and also tiresome for the passenger (will they want to come again on the next lesson).  One alternative is that the instructor arranges to pick you up with their last pupil still in the car and you drive them home.  This is known as piggy backing.  The D.S.A. has frowned upon this as it doesn’t allow the instructor to debrief and close the lesson correctly.  It can also put extra pressure on a novice driver if they have to drive through areas that may be beyond their level of ability, or demoralising when watching a natural driver picking up new skills more quickly when they may have spent several weeks working on the same subject!

The idea behind this proposal is to reduce the amount of novice drivers passing their test one week (with only one passenger) and then a week later filling the car with four passengers and trying to drive the same way.  As we all know the handling qualities of a car change dramatically once it is loaded.

Other options could be:

•  newly qualified drivers drive for a short period displaying P plates limited to carrying two passengers at any one time. 
• Or make Pass Plus compulsory before a newly qualified driver can carry passengers and when doing Pass Plus there must be at least three people in the car.

Let us know your thoughts on the subject!

The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) has confirmed its new test fee structure for 2009/10 following a public consultation in October last year.

The fee increases will apply to theory and practical driving tests booked on or after 30 March 2009. Fees relating to the Approved Driving Instructor scheme will increase from 24 April.

General fee increases include;

* (in October 2009)

DSA Chief Executive, Rosemary Thew, thanked the public for participating in the public consultation, and said: “We are doing everything we can to ensure that fees remain as low as possible for our customers – particularly during the current economic climate.

“Despite this, increases are necessary to cover general running costs, development work and increases in inflation.

“The Agency is largely self-funding. We receive only a small amount from general taxation and have to recover most of our costs through test fees.

“We are confident that these increases will enable us to maintain our high standards and provide a first class service to all our customers.”

Your driving test will start with an eyesight check and some vehicle safety questions. You will then start your practical driving test which will include some specific manoeuvres.

The driving part of your test will last about 40 minutes. Throughout the test your examiner will be looking for an overall safe standard of driving, including when you are carrying out the set exercises. You can make up to 15 driving faults and still pass the test (16 or more results in failure). However, if you commit one serious or dangerous fault you will fail the test.