When it comes to your driving test in Northampton, be sure to check our this video on driving test routes; it will give you lots of hints and tips to get you on the road to gaining your driving licence. This video, is very educational and it will give you lots of things to think about whilst out on your driving test.
Northampton Driving Test Routes – Why?
When it comes to your practical driving test, it is NOT important to know exactly where you will be going. The truth be known, it is virtually impossible to know exactly where you will be heading. Each driving test centre will have approximately 10 test routes that cover different parts of the town. Most driving test centres accommodate 4-6 driving tests at any one go. Due to the volume of test candidates, it wouldn’t be fair to take your test on a route with 5 other learner drivers! I also would assume, local residents wouldn’t be happy neither!
Therefor, each test centre has devised multiple routes of similar complexity that encompass all of the driving test modules that are needed to fulfil the driving test syllabus and criteria. This video has been put together to highlight one of the possible routes that you could get on your driving test in Northampton. Each driving test route will conduct the following exercises:
- You shall drive for 10 minutes independently
- You shall perform one reverse exercise
- You will park on the left on multiple occasions
- You will park on a hill and move away
- You will park near a parked car, and pull off safely
- 1/3 will be asked to perform the emergency stop exercise
- You will complete some high-speed driving (40mph or above)
- You will be asked ‘show me, tell me’ questions
- You will drive in a residential/town area
- You will deal with pedestrian crossings/ crossroads/ roundabouts
The independent driving element was introduced in 2010 which required learner drivers to drive independently using road signs or verbal directions given by the driving examiner. This part of the driving exam lasts about ten minutes. Each driving test route has been designed with this in mind. At the same time, the driving test routes stopped being published online, to stop learner drivers from rehearsing the routes which went against the DVSA’s ethos of; you should be able to pass a driving test in any town.
So, the only was to know the test routes is for the driving instructors to sit in on the driving test and learn the routes whilst out with their learner drivers. This, of course, isn’t the desired approach of the DVSA, however, more and more driving schools do adopt test route training. There are some for and against debates, however, from my own personal experience, a learner driver does have a higher chance of passing if they are somewhat more clued up on the area to which they could be driving in.
In the UK there are approximately 380 part-time and full time driving test centres, from Cornwall to Scotland. Some driving test centres, don’t even have a multi-lane roundabout or a dual-carriageway on part of their driving test routes. Why? Because the town in question has a basic road layout and just does not have this kind of road infrastructure nearby.
I was on on a driving test route in a small town in the south-west, and they only had mini-roundabouts! So, the DVSA states that all learner drivers should be able to take a test in any town and be confident with the the road layouts of the test routes to stand a chance of passing a test. But, how can they if they have never had a driving lesson on a dual-carriageway, as there is not one near to where they live. It is very common to come across a certain road layout, junction or roundabout whereby the learner driver isn’t familiar, so, I do believe in presenting such forms of training via video tutorials and lessons.
This test route video has been created not to tell a learner what to do, but to encourage them to think about different aspects of their driving. Please leave a comment below and I hope you have enjoyed this article.
