Hey everyone and welcome back to another episode of the
Understandable English podcast And today I am going to be
talking about learning to drive in the UK.
So how do you drive in the UK? I am going to tell you a step by
step process of how people learn to drive, get their driving
license and start driving. I will also tell you some
strange things about this process and as my wife is
currently doing this process I will share some experiences.
So let's get started and hopefully this will be
interesting for you. For many people driving is an
essential, so a very important skill and understanding the
process can be very important, especially if you're planning to
move or live in the UK or even to spend some time here.
So to start with, my wife is not from the UK, she is actually
from Russia, from Moscow. And when we moved here she
already had a Russian driving license which allows her to
drive in the UK for some time. So you can drive in the UK on a
foreign driving license for up to one year, and after this
point you have to do the test in the UK or convert your driving
license if they allow you to change or exchange your license.
However, it's only really European Union countries which
are allowed to exchange their license without doing an exam,
and I think Ukraine is now added into this list as well.
But for all other countries, including the USA, after one
year you have to do the test in the UK and go through the
process. So today I'm going to describe
the process first for auk citizen or someone who is
turning the legal age and wants to learn to drive.
So let's get started. So in the UK you can start to
drive when you are 17 years old and first you need something
called a provisional driving license.
This driving license allows you to get lessons and also to do
lessons even with your parents or a family member who can
drive. But when you're doing lessons,
you must have visible on the car something we call an L plate L
for learner. This lets other drivers know
that you are learning and maybe you're going to make some
mistakes, drive a little bit slower, and it allows them to be
careful around you after you get your full driving license.
So first you want your provisional driving license and
this lets you do lessons and the driving test and after you pass
your driving test you get a full driving licence.
So first, to get your provisional driving licence in
the UK, you must be a resident of the UK, so you must live here
and meet the minimum age requirement of 17.
So you have to be over the age of 17.
And it's quite simple. You simply fill out an online
form, pay the application fee and send some documents by post.
I didn't like this part with my wife because it required us to
send her passport and some other very important documents by post
and I was a bit worried that if they got lost or they didn't
return it quickly we could have problems getting new ones.
It's always a little bit uneasy or worrying having to send
important documents in post or by post.
I don't understand why we can't just have digital documents or
upload scans of documents. It's strange to me and quite
ideas or an old system. So anyway, once you receive your
provisional driving license, you can start to practice and learn
to drive. But before you do your driving
test, so the practical test, you have to do another test too.
So to get your driving license there are two tests.
One is the theoretical test, the theory test and this is like a
digital test and the other is the practical test.
So the driving test where you actually drive a car.
Most countries have the same process and the theory test, it
has two parts, multiple choice questions and hazard perception.
So the multiple choice questions you learn lots of different
questions and answers, what certain signs mean, rules of the
road and all sorts of stuff. You do practice tests.
It's quite straightforward. It's quite simple.
The hazard perception is like a video test where you have to hit
a button every time you see a hazard.
So a hazard is a danger when something could be dangerous.
And this test is also quite straightforward, so quite
simple, especially if you practice it lots of times
before. So the driving test is like a
practical driving exam and it tests your driving skills
including vehicle safety checks, basic maneuvers, so for example
parking a car, reversing around a corner so going backwards and
parallel parking. So another type of parking.
And often the preparation for this test will involve your
instructor, so the person teaching you how to drive,
taking you to an area where your test is, so getting you used to
driving the roads where the test is and helping you to prepare
yourself for the test. So of course some different
things in the UK, so we drive on the left side of the road.
My wife, she learned to drive on the right side of the road and
coming to the UK she was a bit worried about driving on the
left, but to be honest it was not too hard for her to get used
to driving on the left and I think she surprised herself at
how quickly she has gotten used to this.
Some of our driving rules are also different, including signs.
Signs can look different from other countries, which makes the
theory part of the test very important for new drivers in the
UK. Pay lots of attention to these
signs and which ones are different or very different from
your country, because sometimes signs can look similar to other
countries but mean completely different things.
So be very careful. And certain rules in the UK are
very strict, so in some countries they aren't so strict
about wearing seatbelts in the back of the car.
In the UK it is very strict, so you need to make sure that
you're wearing a seat belt when you're in the front or the back
of the car, because the driver it is the driver's
responsibility. So make sure all of your
passengers are wearing seatbelts because you can lose your
license or get in a lot of trouble if any of your
passengers aren't wearing seatbelts.
Another thing which is different from some countries like the US,
In the UK we have a lot of roundabouts, so a circle that we
drive around instead of junctions.
So when roads connect, the reason we have roundabouts is
because they are safer, so there are less serious accidents on
roundabouts. But for new drivers in the UK
these can be confusing sometimes and they take a while to get
used to. But with a little bit of
practice it's very easy to get used to.
So I'm going to make a separate episode of the podcast about
cars in the UK because it's quite interesting.
A lot of people in the UK drive manual cars, so mechanical cars.
Some people call them so they don't drive automatic cars.
And there are some strange reasons for this.
And I'm going to do a separate video about cars and maybe
strange things in the UK with cars.
But thank you so much for listening.
Check out our YouTube channel if you haven't already and
subscribe and share this podcast with other English language
learners. Have a fantastic, amazing day
and I will speak to you soon. Goodbye.