The New Independent Driving Test Explained

Practical Driving Test

The new driving test began on 4th October 2010 (dubbed the independent driving test).

Independent Driving

The examiner will give you some directions like, go to the end of this road then turn left and then take the second right, or he or she may say follow the road signs to Wolverhampton, or you may be shown diagrams of the route (example shown below) leaving you to navigate and drive independently.

Manoeuvres

Candidates will have to complete one reversing manoeuvre rather than two.

Emergency Stop

An emergency stop will still be carried out on one in three tests.

Independent Driving Period

The independent driving section of the test is approximately 10 minutes.

Orientation Skills

Independent driving is not a test of the candidate’s orientation skills. If the candidate goes off route, but doesn't commit a fault, there’s nothing for the examiner to assess.

Cost of Driving Test

The cost of the driving test will remain the same.

Driving Instructor

You may have an observer accompany you on your test, it is believed you may want to take your driving Instructor, but this is not compulsory.

Satnav

A sat nav gives directions in much the same way as a driving instructor, or examiner, so it’s not deemed appropriate to use.

More Failures?

Trials with a large number of participants showed no significant fall in the pass rate among professionally trained candidates.