Posted by admin on August 25, 2017

Since DVSA confirmed the changes to the driving test would go ahead, there have been lots of comments about when it’s suitable to pull up on the right of a road.

Some comments in reply to Neil Wilson’s recent post explaining how the changes will work have suggested that it’s something that should never be done. So he explain more about why they are  introducing this manoeuvre.

Neil showed some real-life examples of where it’s suitable to do it. He mentioned We know it’s not always suitable – and it’s not the default.We  want to be absolutely clear that we’re not recommending that drivers should always pull up on the right.

As we  know, best practice is to pull up on the left. This is still what we expect new drivers to be taught.

However, the reality is that it’s not always possible to pull up on the left.

So, as well as being taught that it’s best practice to pull up on the left, we want to make sure new drivers:

know what factors to take into account when they decide whether or not to pull up on the right
are trained to carry out the manoeuvre safely in appropriate places

It’s all about observation, accuracy and control
Pulling up on the right and reversing for 2 car lengths is an exercise that will assess these essential skills:

planning
awareness of road users from behind and oncoming
effective use of mirrors
accuracy and control
observation

The existing manoeuvres will stay in the syllabus

As DVSA  said before, instructor  should still teach the ‘reverse around a corner’ and ‘turn-in-the-road’ manoeuvres. They’ll still be part of the learning to drive syllabus.

The observation, slow control and accuracy skills needed for those will be a vital grounding for when you introduce the revised manoeuvres to your pupil in later lessons.

The manoeuvre can be done more naturally during the test.They currently have to spend a disproportionate amount of time in quieter side roads testing the existing manoeuvres.

The revised manoeuvres can be carried out more naturally during the test, which means we can spend more of the test assessing you pupils on rural and high-speed roads – the roads they’re most likely to have a fatal collision on.