The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has confirmed that as of 4th December 2017, four key changes will be made to the current driving test.
It says the alterations are to better reflect and prepare drivers for modern motoring and are aimed at reducing the number of casualties on Britain’s roads.
DVSA chief executive, Gareth Llewellyn, said: “It’s vital that the driving test keeps up to date with new vehicle technology and the areas where new drivers face the greatest risk once they’ve passed their test.
One of the main changes will be the extension to the independent driving portion of the test. Currently, learners drive without turn-by-turn instructions from the examiner for around 10 minutes. This will be doubled to 20 minutes.
This change has been made as DVSA says research has shown that new drivers find independent driving training valuable, saying that they can relate it to driving once they’ve passed their test.
Anther big change will be the need to follow instructions from a sat-nav system.
It is reported that 52% of all drivers now have use a sat-nav and the DVSA says it wants the next generation of motorists to be able to use them safely.
Learners will be asked to follow a route pre-programmed by the instructor and not all learners will be asked to do this in their test as it will be randomised and only one out of every five tests will include sat-nav use.
During the test learners will be asked to complete one of three possible manoeuvres: parallel park; reverse into or out of a parking bay or pull up on the right-hand side of the road, reverse for 2 car lengths and rejoin the traffic with the dreaded reversing around a corner and three point turn manoeuvres being scrapped altogether.
The last change will see the examiner ask two questions on vehicle safety. One will be a “tell me” question at the start of the test asked how you would carry out a safety task. The second a “show me” during the drive where the student will have to carry out a safety task, such as using the windscreen wiper controls correctly.
Transport Minister, Andrew Jones, added: “Our roads are among the safest in the world. However, road collisions are the biggest killer of young people. “These changes will help us to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads and equip new drivers with the skill they need to use our roads safely.”
