Five huge changes to driving tests set to be introduced – here’s all you need to know

DRIVING tests are set to have a big shake-up, with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) proposing some major changes.

The coronavirus pandemic has been harsh on DVSA and these proposed changes can help ease up those long driving test waiting times.

Currently, the DVSA have the highest demand ever known for driving tests, and these changes will be there to ease up the risk of demand issues in the future.

The proposed changes will help learner drivers obtain a driving test slot easier and make sure they are thoroughly prepared on the day of their test.

However, no date has been announce on when these changes could come into effect.

Here are the DVSA’s proposed changes for driving tests.

Encouraging learner drivers to be prepared for their driving test

It’s always important for learner drivers to be thoroughly prepared when going into their driving test.

Unfortunately, not all learners are successful and will need to retake their driving test.

Currently, learner drivers only have to wait 10 days after failing to rebook a car driving test.

The proposal suggests that the timeframe should be increased to 28 days.

This is being recommended so learners that have failed will have more time to do additional training before retaking the test.

This ruling would only change for car driving tests, rules would stay the same for other types of driving tests like motorcycle tests, heavy good vehicle (HGV) tests and bus driving tests.

From the time period of April to September 2021, only 50.5 per cent of learners passed their test, suggesting people are taking the test when they aren’t ready.

Making learners give additional notice when cancelling a test

Car learner drivers need to give at least three working days notice to cancel a driving test and avoid losing their fee.

It is proposed that this change to at least 10 working days, as three days is too short of a notice period.

This will then give other learners more time to take up the now vacant test spots.

Between April 22 and December 14, 2021, 141,748 driving tests were cancelled, with 78,206 of those cancellations coming within 10 days of the test.

This change will also only apply to car driving tests.

Collecting additional data on how well driving instructors are preparing learner drivers

In current law, driving instructors must display their registration certificate in the windscreen of their car when charging money for driving lessons.

It is proposed that all instructors will have to legally keep this in their windscreen when bringing learner drivers to their driving test.

This is so the DVSA can see which driving instructor’s they need to see for standards checks, if they’re results are poor.

Those that refuse to show their certificate could see their approval to teach removed.

Driving examiners currently record the driving instructor’s personal reference number, if they have brought the certificate with them, and link the outcome of that test back to them.

Data that is recorded is:

• Average number of driving faults per test
• Average number of serious faults per test
• percentage of tests where the driving examiner had to take physical action in the interests of public safety
• Overall pass rate

Give learner drivers more information on their instructors

GOV.UK run a service that helps learner drivers find driving instructors.

On this service, learners can find information on an instructor including their name, phone number, email address and distance from the learner drivers’ postcode.

This is a voluntary service that driving instructors don’t have to opt in to.

The DVSA are proposing for extra information to be shown on the instructor.

The extra details they are proposing are:

• average number of driving faults their pupils make per test
• average number of serious faults their pupils make per test
• percentage of the driving instructors’ pupils tests where the driving examiner had to take physical action in the interests of public safety
• overall pass rate for the driving instructors’ pupils

This is to give learner drivers more transparency on the driving instructor they chose.

Changes to how learner drivers eyesight is tested

At the beginning of a driving test, learner drivers are asked to read out a number plate on a parked vehicle in good daylight.

This vehicle has to be parked up to 20 metres away.

The DVSA proposes that there is more flexibility when checking someone’s eyesight.

This could include checking eyesight in different levels of light and using different methods, such as getting the learner driver to read off of a tablet.

These changes will give more flexibility on what time of the day driving tests are held and add importance to eyesight standards in different levels of light, not just in daylight.