Latest from the DSA
A proposed change to the driving test due to come in to affect from October 2010.
The change is the introduction approx 10 minutes of independent driving. The test candidate will have to navigate their way to a set destination using only road signs, no directions will be given by the examiner, not only will you have to know how to get there, you will still have to do it safely, signalling at the right time, being in the correct lane for a roundabout, take the right exit, stick to the speed limit, and still not make a serious or dangerous driving errors.
In order to facilitate independent driving on the practical test, the DSA will cut the number of reversing manoeuvres to one, but since you don't know which one, you still have to learn all four.
One way in which they propose to do this is to pull the candidate up on the left and give a set of three directions for example: The examiner will say:
"I would like you to take the next turning on the left when you come to the roundabout I would like you to turn right, 3rd exit and when you reach the 2nd roundabout I would like you to follow the road ahead."
Once this has been completed the candidate will pull up on the left again to be given another set of directions.
Another way which this might be conducted is that the examiner may ask the candidate to follow the road signs to the: Town Centre or the Train Station. When they want you to go in a different direction they will give you another road sign to follow.