The new driving test coming in 2010

The driving test is being changed from 4th October 2010. In late 2008 it was decided by the government that the test should be made harder and more thorough in an attempt to cut the number of new drivers involved in accidents. Currently, 1 in 5 new drivers is killed or seriously injured within a year of passing their test.

If you prefer to take the current test rather than the new one then we advise you start learning as soon as possible. October may sound a long way off but with an average waiting time of 2 months per test on top of the time it takes to learn and the fact that schools will start teaching these new topics in the summer, there isn't much time left for the current test.

The changes

• For 10 minutes of the test you'll need to drive to a location using only diagrams and/or road signs without any directions from the examiner during the drive. The examiner will give you up to 4 directions while the car is stationary, for example they may say "Drive to the first roundabout then take the 2nd exit straight ahead, then take the third road on the right, the 4th exit on the next roundabout and then the 2nd left turn." For some of these directions you'll be given a diagram as shown below to help, for others you'll just have to follow signs and will just be asked to drive towards the city centre or an area of Birmingham such as Sheldon etc. It was decided that the current test focuses too much on just car control and not other skills needed to drive such as map reading, navigation and reading the road.

Click the picture to see the kind of diagrams you will have to follow.

• You will only do 1 manouever on a test instead of the current 2. Current test routes are based on having to stick around quiet housing estates so there are enough opportunities to do manouevers. This will give you the chance to travel much further away from the centre so you may well drive in areas you have never seen before which will prove you are not just memorising test roads and routes.

• The test will last longer than the current one, it's likely to now be around 50 minutes in length. This will give examiners much more time to assess your ability and cover as many different junctions and situations as possible. Currently there just isn't time to test everything and you can pass a test having never even dealt with a crossroad, dual carriageway or high street.

• A driver attitude test may be used, this is currently going through its second phase of testing and is very likely to be introduced. You'll be asked questions such as "You smashed into a parked car while driving, should you report it or drive off?" with the idea being that this will stop people with bad attitudes from getting a licence.

• From April 5th 2010 you'll be asked if you want your instructor to go on the test and whether you want them present at the end of test debreif. This is possible at the moment but they will not ask you, currently you must tell them you want someone to go with you. It was going to be made compulsory for instructors to go on all tests with all pupils but after huge appeals against this it was overturned.

Other measures that may be introduced over the coming months include...

• There may be a minimum learning time of a year, meaning it will not be possible to do intensive courses. An instructor will have to sign to say that you have been learning with them for a minimum period of time. Britain is one of the few countries in Europe not to have a minimum learning time and some countries such as Finland have a minimum time of 2 years.

• Parents/family etc may not be allowed to teach people to drive. To achieve this it may be made so that only dual controlled cars can be used on tests as no instructor will just take someone for a test without having given them lessons. At the moment pretty much anybody can just teach friends and family to drive no matter how bad a driver they are. Over 60% of people surveyed though that it should be essential for all learners to take lessons with a professional instructor.

• New drivers may be limited to buying a car with an engine no bigger than 1.4 litres for their first year. Too many inexperienced drivers buy powerful cars that they just can't handle and end up killing themselves and others. A similar system is popular in Australia, where speed limits are lower for newer drivers.

• New drivers may not be allowed to have more than one passenger for the first year of driving. This is because when one young person passes a test they often fill the car with friends who encourage them to do stupid things. The weight of the car also changes a lot with passengers and can make a big difference to the way a car steers and brakes.