Car Driving Lessons

Before you can learn to drive you must apply for a provisional driving license.

During your first lessons you will learn the basics and fundamentals of driving to help increase your confidence whilst driving. As you further your driving ability. The lessons will become increasingly diificult as the manouveres you must know and that you could be asked to preform on your driving test are introduced in the build up to you booking and sitting your test at one of the qualified testing centres.

What happens during the test

Before you start the driving ability part of your test, you’ll have an eyesight check and be asked 2 vehicle safety questions.

Eyesight check

You’ll have to read a number plate from a distance of:

• 20 metres for vehicles with a new-style number plate
• 20.5 metres for vehicles with an old-style number plate

Vehicle safety questions: ‘show me, tell me’

You’ll be asked 2 vehicle safety questions. These are also known as the ‘show me, tell me’ questions.

The examiner will ask you one ‘show me’ question, where you’ll have to show them how you’d carry out a vehicle safety check.

You’ll also be asked one ‘tell me’ question, where you’ll have to explain to the examiner how you’d carry out the check.

The driving ability part

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.

Your general driving ability

During your test the examiner will give you directions that you should follow. You’ll drive in various road and traffic conditions. You should drive in the way your instructor has trained you.

It should include:

• normal stops
• an angle start (pulling out from behind a parked vehicle)
• a hill start
• You will be asked to carry out an emergency stop.

Reversing your vehicle safely

You’ll have to show how well you can reverse your vehicle. The examiner will ask you to do one of the following exercises:

• reversing around a left hand corner
• turning in the road
• reverse parking - either into a parking bay (bay parking)
• parallel parking at the side of the road

Independent driving section

Your driving test will include around 10 minutes of independent driving. It’s designed to assess your ability to drive safely while making decisions on your own.

If you make mistakes carry on if you make a mistake, because if it’s not a serious mistake it might not affect your result.

Your practical driving test will include around 10 minutes of independent driving. It’s not a test of your orientation and navigation skills.

How the test works

During your test you’ll have to drive independently by either following:

• traffic signs
• a series of directions
• a combination of both
• To help you understand where you’re going when following verbal directions, the examiner can show you a diagram.

Forgetting the directions

It doesn’t matter if you don’t remember every direction, or if you go the wrong way.

Driving independently means making your own decisions - this includes deciding when it’s safe and appropriate to ask for confirmation about where you’re going.

Going off the independent driving route

It won’t affect the result of your test if you go off the independent driving route, unless you make a driving fault.

The examiner will help you get back on the route if you go off it or take a wrong turning. You can then continue with the independent driving.

Poor traffic signs

The examiner will give you directions until you can see the next traffic sign if there are poor or obscured traffic signs. You won’t need to have a detailed knowledge of the area.

Your driving test result

The examiner will tell you if you passed or not explain how you did during the test.

You’ll pass your test if you make:

• 15 or fewer driving faults
• no serious or dangerous faults
• When the driving test has ended, you can call your instructor over if they didn’t go with you on your test. This is so they can listen to the result and help you with any feedback afterwards.

The different types of faults

There are 3 types of faults that can be marked:

• a dangerous fault - involves actual danger to you, the examiner, the public or property
• a serious fault - could potentially be dangerous
• a driving fault - not potentially dangerous, but if you make the same fault throughout your test it could become a serious fault

If you pass your test

• The examiner will give you a pass certificate if you pass the test.
• They will also ask you if you want your full licence to be sent to you automatically.
• Once you have passed your test you can start driving straight away - you don’t need to wait for your full licence to arrive.