Tom Ingram (Owner of BIG TOM) provides some further clarification for BIG TOM customers about the new driving test changes.
A series of 6 videos have been created by the DVSA regarding the changes they have made to the driving test. The whole point behind these changes is to enable the examiners to see you driving on the faster moving and rural roads which statistically is where the serious accidents are occurring. Two of the manoeuvres have been removed (turn in the road and left reverse) and use of sat nav introduced in order to allow the examiners to drive on these higher risk roads. The section of the test called “independent drive” has been extended to 20 minutes from the previous 10 minutes. Show me, tell me questions have been very slightly modified.
So regarding manoeuvres, previously, there was either reverse parallel park, left reverse, turn in the road or reverse bay parking. The new test will not include either a left reverse or the turn in the road (both remain perfectly legal and useful manoeuvres). In place of them, there have been 2 other manoeuvres introduced. One of the new manoeuvres is where you will be asked to pull over on the right side of the road, reverse a short length in a straight line and then move off to join the road and traffic again. This can be asked of you on up to a 40 mph road. The other new manoeuvre is to forward park into a bay, then reverse out and carry on driving.
You could still be asked to do the reverse bay park at the Test Centre, or the reverse parallel park. The new bay parking manoeuvre is being referred to as “forward park”; this is mainly going to be carried out in other car parks outside of the test centre. In both cases, it still remains your choice as to which bay you park in to. As with all bay parking driving forwards or reversing, there is a great deal of reduced risk and stress with some care taken on which bay to park into. You are entirely in control of that choice and my advice as ever would be to pause and think before acting (we have always covered this subject extensively on the BIG TOM intensive driving course).
The manoeuvre involving pulling up on the right side of the road is expected to be done without any undue effect on other road users. The precise place you pull over is up to you, it need not be where there is other parked vehicles directly in front of you…. it makes a good deal of sense to choose a location where there is NOT going to be parked traffic in front of you. The normal condition regarding not pulling up next to dropped kerbs/driveways does not apply here as you are not parking. You will be expected to reverse in a straight line 2 car lengths and then re-join the road in the same direction you were originally travelling. You will be asked to perform this manoeuvre whilst on the move driving, so it will be a skill in itself to choose the place you pull over wisely as well as the timing of moving over to the right and re-joining the traffic.
One of the consequences of this change is that it is perfectly possible for you to take an entire driving test with no reversing that goes beyond straight reversing for up to 2 car lengths.
Regarding the “show me, tell me” questions. Rather than doing both at the start before setting off, only the “tell me” will be completed at the start (it could still involve opening of the bonnet). The “show me” question is going to be asked on the move while you are driving. If you literally don’t know the answer, rather than fumbling around pressing buttons, you would be better off explaining you don’t know, in which case the examiner will ask you to pull over, and will show YOU how to do it. Then, you will be asked to move off and demonstrate it again while you are driving. Control and safety must remain at all times. Previously getting answers wrong when the car was still parked at the test centre resulted in one “driving fault” being recorded. With this new change, due to you driving at the time of doing the “show me” it is now possible that should safety be compromised, you could actually fail the test on the consequence of what happens on the “show me” section.
On a general note, the examiners will now bring along with them a sat nav they want to use on the test. You are expected to do absolutely nothing regarding the setting up or managing of this sat nav. Examiners will continue to only use the vehicle speedo in order to monitor the speed you drive at (not the speed displayed on the sat nav). As is covered on your BIG TOM course when you practise using sat navs, do not over rely on the speed limit displayed on sat navs, and this will be especially so regarding the sat nav’s provided by the examiners. Their sat navs whilst being brand new for December 2017 are remaining exactly as they are (in terms of programming of routes/speeds) for a further 2 years, so with the passing of time, it will become increasingly likely that the maximum speed limits displayed on their sat navs could well be out of date. This is a point that is highlighted on your course – you should always be able to tell what the maximum speed limit is when driving without reliance on technology. (By the way, any error that a driver makes regarding speed can never be mitigated by suggesting a sat nav was displaying the wrong speed or maximum speed limit in a court of law – which is why this point remains on the driving test). The examiner will provide a mat to place the sat nav on the dash, or alternatively stick it on the windscreen. The BIG TOM sat nav (which is the same model as that used on the driving test) will be removed prior to test so as to accommodate the examiners sat nav. 20% of driving tests will not make use of sat nav for the independent drive, instead the examiner will provide guidance of what signs to follow or directions to take. Unlike the previous 10 minute “independent drive” for practical reasons, the manoeuvre you get asked to do could possibly be within the new 20 minute “independent drive” section.
In summary, the thrust of the reason of this new driving test will complement the BIG TOM intensive driving course perfectly. If you care to look at previous blogs to see where customers have driven in their course, these kinds of roads (rural and fast moving) have always featured large on the course. You will cover some ground because you will drive between major towns giving you the opportunity to drive on different class roads. BIG TOM has always devised their intensive courses in this way because this is one of the stipulations set in the DVSA Driving Standard. This is one of the MAJOR advantages of this training compared to hourly pay as you go driving lessons which have much more restriction of how far can be driven in a session. Also, customers have always been asked to pull over on the right side of the road (because this happens in real life driving) and customers get very accustomed to parking forwards and in reverse.
There really is no need whatsoever to feel any negativity or additional nerves regarding this new test. Bear in mind that when this was piloted by the DVSA it was explained that the new test is no more technically difficult than the previous format and there were no adverse changes to the overall pass rates. There is no need at all to attempt to take a driving test before 4/12/2017 just because of the new format. Stay calm everyone, it really is not a big deal.
