The driving test has no magical secrets, and contrary
to popular belief Driving Examiners are human and have Fathers. The examiners know
that you are going to be nervous, and will do everything they
can to help and put you at ease.
BUT they are testing you to
see if you are ready to take to the roads by yourself.
Be ready for the 'show me tell me questions'
before your practical driving test starts. Your examiner will
ask you 2 questions. For these questions go to the DSA's Show
me tell me questions click this link to take
you there.
Click here for the DSA syllabus for the practical driving test.
When you take to the road the Driving Examiner will be looking
to see that you drive with
RESPONSIBILITY towards other road users
CONFIDENCE in driving the car on you own
AWARENESS & ANTICIPATION of hazards and dangers
CONSIDERATION and ATTITUDE to others, especially the vulnerable road users
Add to this a set of MANOEUVRES
If you can show the Examiner you can control these you will have no difficulty
in passing your driving test FIRST time
The Examiner is not looking for a good drive while you are on
your practical test, he will be watching for faults with your
driving, and will record those faults as they occur. Every departure
from a standard of 'Perfect Driving' needs to be assessed on whether
the fault is of car control, or road procedure. In assessing the
degree of fault the Examiner will first ask themselves the following
question as each fault is observed:-
Question
'If this candidate's driving had been perfect up to this point, and this was the only fault made, would this fault be sufficiently serious enough to justify the failure of the Driving Test?'
If the Examiner without doubt or hesitation answers 'NO' to the
question then the fault is recorded as a MINOR fault. Minor faults
on there own will normally not entail failure, but under the totting
up procedure if there are 16 or more minor faults made the driving
test will end in failure.
If the answer to the question is 'YES' then he must assess whether
it was a SERIOUS or a DANGEROUS fault.
The main difference between these two is that a Dangerous fault
is a fault which actually causes another road user to brake, swerve,
or take some form of evasive action. A Serious fault is one that
might have caused another road user to take evasive action.Just one Serious or Dangerous
fault will bring a failure.
If the Examiner is forced to take action either Verbal or Physical
he will also mark in the Examiner took action section. This is
as well as the failure mark alongside the item that failed the
candidate. On average one in eight of all driving tests the Examiner
will take some form of action.
1) The car driving test was introduced on 13 March 1935.
2) When the test was brought in 70 years ago there were only 1.5 million registered vehicles on the road in the UK.
3) The year before the compulsory test was brought in, 7,000 people were killed as a result of road accidents.
4) Introduced as a safety measure, it saw fatal and serious injuries fall by 17% within 3 years.
5) Hand signals were originally part of the car test but were removed in 1975
6) Since 1996, drivers have to pass the written Theory Test before they are able to take the practical driving test. The video hazard perception test was introduced in 2002.
7) The Show me, Tell me questions involving vehicle safety were introduced at the beginning of the practical test in September 2003.
8) The Driving Standards Agency conducts over 1.3 million tests for car drivers and 1.4 million theory tests each year.
9) The DSA has over 1,635 driving test examiners in the UK and 31,000 registered driving instructors.
10) The cost of taking a practical car driving test Monday to Friday is £48.50 with the theory test at £21.50.
