Why Do We Need the Driving Theory Test in the UK?

One of the major events during our teenage years will be learning to drive and ultimately passing a practical and a theory driving test. This gives so much freedom and independence to our lives.

It gives young adults the ability to go to college or university without relying on public transport or parents and the freedom to get a job away from the area that we live

Some interesting facts and figures about our roads. Reports say that there are over 30 million registered cars in the UK and over the last 20 years the number of registered cars has risen by over 35%. There are over 45 million people that hold a full license to be able to drive in the UK, but the queen is not one of them as she does not need a license to drive.

In the UK the legal age we can obtain a full driving license is at the age of 17. You can apply for a provisional license from the age of 15 years and 9 months. Each year 1.6million people take the practical test of which 43% pass and over 52% of people pass their theory exam. That is over half a million new drivers every year.

The driving or competency exam was first introduced in the road traffic at of 1934, but was suspended during the war, and in 1996 a theory exam was added to the practical. The current exam involves two sections that need to passed to obtain a full UK license. These are a practical and a theory test.

The theory is made up of 2 parts. The first is a multiple choice exam based on the highway code, it is completed on a computer and has 50 multiple choice questions of which 43 of them have to be answered correctly to pass, which is pass mark of 86%. The questions are randomly chosen from 1000 on a variety of sections within the highway code, the test usually lasts an hour.

The second part of the test is hazard perception. 14 one-minute clips are shown on a computer screen from a drivers perspective. At various points that could be deemed a hazard or where a hazard could develop, the screen has to be touched, or clicked on using a computer mouse.

Once a provisional license is obtained a practical exam can be taken. This is completed on the public road system and has to be with a professional examiner around a pre planned route. It usually last 40 minutes. To fail a practical exam a serious or dangerous fault has to happen, or an accumulation of at least 15 driving faults across the test paper will also be marked as a fail.

The best way to pass any exam is to train and learn for it, the practical side of learning for a UK license can be trained for by having lesson. Lesson are usually an hour long and involve going out with a fully trained driving instructor, there is no minimum or maximum amount of training hours. The instructor through experience will know when you are ready.

Intensive training courses can also be completed. This involves studying and practising the practical side within a much smaller time frame, usually within a week. This form of learning is not as common.

The UK theory side of obtaining a driving license can be learnt at home, previously studying a book on the highway code was the way to learn. However since the early years there have been advances in learning material. Now with the aid of a smartphone or computer you can now learn on line with practice tests and online resources. This way you know that you can achieve the pass mark required.