Driving test changes due to take place

DVSA have been trialling some changes over the last 5-months, these trials took place at 20 driving test centres across the UK and are to bring in more high speed roads within the test routes, another change was to extend the independent driving part of the test of either following directions from a sat nav or following sign boards for directions to the full test time instead of the current 20-minutes.

DVSA feel these trials showed a success and are now rolling this out to all driving test centres from the 24th November 2025. If you already have a driving test booked then you should receive an update about these changes from DVSA.

The changes are to help develop new drivers abilities with the aim to give them more real-life experiences on high speed roads and driving more independently due to these being the main areas where incidents happen post test.

According to the DVSA findings, between 2019 and 2023, almost half of fatal or serious collisions involved younger drivers on rural roads. The changes are to now help build confidence, competence and better risk-management skills for new drivers to a higher level.

It is important that all learner drivers of all ages do not focus their learning to drive on simply a driving test syllabus and that they focus on developing their driving skills to a high level of competence in all sections of driving, this takes time to develop these skills and become a competence and confident driver, please do not rush your learning experience and ensure you have experienced all types of roads and achieved an ability that meets safe driving standards for each type of road situation so that you are fully ready for driving alone after test pass.