DSA Driving Test (length of time)

[jbsportstech]

I was always lead to believe that driving tests are carried out in around 45 mins. I was talking to an adi yesterday who had some back in from the test in within 24 mins who had passed?

Does anyone else think that is a bit short for find potenially dangerous flaws in someones driving.

[martine]

Yes of course it's too short/simplistic but the whole learning to drive/testing thing is under review by the DSA - not sure when they are due to publish their proposals.

I think 35 mins is more normal but this includes the 'show me/tell me' questions at the start - so I guess 30 mins driving?

[jbsportstech]

Well its coming up to 10 years since I took mine and without 'show me, tell me' it was a good 45 minutes and the guy was pretty thorough. He talked me through all 8 of my minors and told me I would save fuel if I wasn't so keen to accelerate all the time as there was a fair bit of unecessary throttle use which I think is common in male teenage driving.

The same adi is trying to teach a polish women and he said his experience of east europeans is their attitude to driving is dangerous in general. This women fails a test and then rebooks and has a couple of lessons she had 5 majors on her last test and they just generally seem to have a realxed attitude to driving and rules of the roads. Apparantly he got the impression if she fails her next test her husband will go mad.

[vonhosen]

Perhaps this person had less minors than you did to talk about.

[jcochrane]

I was always lead to believe that driving tests are carried out in around 45 mins. I was talking to an adi yesterday who had some back in from the test in within 24 mins who had passed?

Does anyone else think that is a bit short for find potenially dangerous flaws in someones driving.

My test lasted less than 15 minutes, fist time pass with just one Highway Code question...but that was 46 years ago when things were very different.

However, I do think an experienced examiner probably has a pretty good idea of a drivers ability after just a few minutes. The rest of the drive confirming the first impessions.

[ExadiNigel]

The standard DSA test will usually be around 40 - 45 mins. This is from when the examiner calls the candidate to when the examiner exits the car.

On teh road for around 30-35 minutes.

Nigel

[TripleS]

I was always lead to believe that driving tests are carried out in around 45 mins. I was talking to an adi yesterday who had some back in from the test in within 24 mins who had passed?

Does anyone else think that is a bit short for find potenially dangerous flaws in someones driving.

My test lasted less than 15 minutes, fist time pass with just one Highway Code question...but that was 46 years ago when things were very different.

However, I do think an experienced examiner probably has a pretty good idea of a driver's ability after just a few minutes. The rest of the drive confirming the first impessions.

....namely that this guy is a pretty menacing looking dude, and although I don't care to be driven by him for much longer, I'd better give him the pink slip and get rid of him while I'm still in a piece!

BTW, was it still a pink slip five years after I took my test?

....which IIRC took about 40/45 minutes to cover a standard test route - and there was no mention of any minors - or majors for that matter. It was all so much simpler and easier in those days.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[jcochrane]

BTW, was it still a pink slip five years after I took my test?


Best wishes all,
Dave.

Good grief....can't remember the colour...you know I'm getting senile but I do remember you got a nice driving licence with a stiff red cover.

Nothing about majors and minors but you did have to drive using hand signals....even on a cold day with the rain lashing down. Ah, such happy memories.

Dave, do you remember those semaphore signals, you remember the ones where you had to thump the door pillar as you drove in order to make them flip out.

[daz6215]

Was there a person walking infront with a red flag guys?

[jcochrane]

Was there a person walking infront with a red flag guys?

Of course supplied by the driving school. Can't remember what they looked like because I never could be bothered to look that far up the road.

[fungus]

Wasn't the speed limit increased dramaticaly from 4mph to 12mph in one fell swoop? Surely a dangerious thing to do when they only had wooden blocks for brakes.

Seriously though, if the DSA get wind of examiners cutting tests short, they will covertly monitor the test centre in question, so I've been told. It happened at a test centre near to me a few years ago. I don't know the outcome, but apparently they were in quite deep water.

Nigel ADI
IAM trainee observer.

[ScoobyChris]

Presumably the test centre have pre-set routes which (with moderate traffic) will be approximately 30 minutes of driving so it may well be possible on a clear day, with all the traffic lights staying green, for the candidate to get round the route quicker?

Seem to remember my test lasting about 45 minutes, including h/c questions, although at the time it felt much longer

Chris

[TripleS]

BTW, was it still a pink slip five years after I took my test?


Best wishes all,
Dave.

Good grief....can't remember the colour...you know I'm getting senile but I do remember you got a nice driving licence with a stiff red cover.

Nothing about majors and minors but you did have to drive using hand signals....even on a cold day with the rain lashing down. Ah, such happy memories.

Dave, do you remember those semaphore signals, you remember the ones where you had to thump the door pillar as you drove in order to make them flip out.

Yes, I do remember them. I think they were called Trafficators - or something like that. Mind you, they were sometimes called other things too, when the damned things stuck either up or down.

I never owned a car with them fitted, but in the family there was a 1953 Lanchester 14 model that had them, and I drove that quite a bit.

Novel transmission on that car - Wilson pre-selector system - a three pedal job with a four speed epicyclic gearbox and a fluid flywheel. It behaved quite nicely in stop-start low speed traffic, but I didn't like it otherwise.

....and 61 bhp in a car weighing more than 1.5 tons wasn't too exciting either.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[zadocbrown]

I was always lead to believe that driving tests are carried out in around 45 mins. I was talking to an adi yesterday who had some back in from the test in within 24 mins who had passed?

Does anyone else think that is a bit short for find potenially dangerous flaws in someones driving.

Usually 35-45 min. If stuck in traffic it can take an hour or more. I did have someone come back inside 25 min, not sure how this happened! There is a stipulation in the guidelines for examiners for minimum amount of time on road, and it's more than 25 min so technically the examiner wasn't doing his job properly. I think they have to record the exact time of starting and finishing the driving element as well, so don't know how they would square that! But it's not as id the candidates going to complain...........

[firstmk1]

Maybe the ADI made a mistake with the time?