On 4th December 2017, four huge new changes are coming into the practical driving test in the United Kingdom.
One of the major changes is to the reversing manoeuvres that pupils are being tested on. From December, you will no longer be tested on the current reverse around a corner and turn in the road manoeuvres. However, as these manoeuvres can be helpful in real-life situations, your driving instructor will still teach these to you.
Instead, you will be tested on one of the following three new reversing manoeuvres.
These are parallel parking at the side of a road, bay parking or, finally, you may be asked to pull up on the right-hand side of a quiet road, reverse and rejoin the flow of traffic. If you are tested on parking in a bay, you will be required to either drive in and reverse out, or reverse in and drive out.
The examiner taking your test will tell you which of the two you will be expected to do. If you are required to complete the final reversing manoeuvre, you will have to pull up on the right hand side of the road before reversing back for a couple car lengths to get a view of the road before pulling back out.
The new changes to the driving test are all designed to help you to be as safe as possible when you are on the road on your own.
All of the new reversing manoeuvres that have been introduced are designed to help teach new drivers how to deal with real-world situations before they are left to their own devices.
These changes are all intended to help new drivers to drive safely in modern driving conditions within the UK. Even though there are huge changes coming to the content of the tests, the cost and duration will still remain the same.
There are also no changes coming to how the tests will be marked; candidates will still pass as long as they make no more than 15 minor faults and no major or serious faults