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Hey everyone and welcome back to
another episode of the 

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Understandable English podcast 
And today I am going to be 

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talking about learning to drive 
in the UK. 

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So how do you drive in the UK? 
I am going to tell you a step by

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step process of how people learn
to drive, get their driving 

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license and start driving. 
I will also tell you some 

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strange things about this 
process and as my wife is 

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currently doing this process I 
will share some experiences. 

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So let's get started and 
hopefully this will be 

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interesting for you. 
For many people driving is an 

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essential, so a very important 
skill and understanding the 

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process can be very important, 
especially if you're planning to

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move or live in the UK or even 
to spend some time here. 

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So to start with, my wife is not
from the UK, she is actually 

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from Russia, from Moscow. 
And when we moved here she 

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already had a Russian driving 
license which allows her to 

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drive in the UK for some time. 
So you can drive in the UK on a 

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foreign driving license for up 
to one year, and after this 

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point you have to do the test in
the UK or convert your driving 

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license if they allow you to 
change or exchange your license.

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However, it's only really 
European Union countries which 

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are allowed to exchange their 
license without doing an exam, 

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and I think Ukraine is now added
into this list as well. 

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But for all other countries, 
including the USA, after one 

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year you have to do the test in 
the UK and go through the 

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process. 
So today I'm going to describe 

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the process first for auk 
citizen or someone who is 

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turning the legal age and wants 
to learn to drive. 

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So let's get started. 
So in the UK you can start to 

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drive when you are 17 years old 
and first you need something 

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called a provisional driving 
license. 

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This driving license allows you 
to get lessons and also to do 

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lessons even with your parents 
or a family member who can 

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drive. 
But when you're doing lessons, 

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you must have visible on the car
something we call an L plate L 

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for learner. 
This lets other drivers know 

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that you are learning and maybe 
you're going to make some 

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mistakes, drive a little bit 
slower, and it allows them to be

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careful around you after you get
your full driving license. 

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So first you want your 
provisional driving license and 

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this lets you do lessons and the
driving test and after you pass 

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your driving test you get a full
driving licence. 

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So first, to get your 
provisional driving licence in 

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the UK, you must be a resident 
of the UK, so you must live here

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and meet the minimum age 
requirement of 17. 

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So you have to be over the age 
of 17. 

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And it's quite simple. 
You simply fill out an online 

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form, pay the application fee 
and send some documents by post.

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I didn't like this part with my 
wife because it required us to 

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send her passport and some other
very important documents by post

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and I was a bit worried that if 
they got lost or they didn't 

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return it quickly we could have 
problems getting new ones. 

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It's always a little bit uneasy 
or worrying having to send 

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important documents in post or 
by post. 

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I don't understand why we can't 
just have digital documents or 

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upload scans of documents. 
It's strange to me and quite 

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ideas or an old system. 
So anyway, once you receive your

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provisional driving license, you
can start to practice and learn 

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to drive. 
But before you do your driving 

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test, so the practical test, you
have to do another test too. 

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So to get your driving license 
there are two tests. 

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One is the theoretical test, the
theory test and this is like a 

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digital test and the other is 
the practical test. 

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So the driving test where you 
actually drive a car. 

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Most countries have the same 
process and the theory test, it 

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has two parts, multiple choice 
questions and hazard perception.

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So the multiple choice questions
you learn lots of different 

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questions and answers, what 
certain signs mean, rules of the

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road and all sorts of stuff. 
You do practice tests. 

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It's quite straightforward. 
It's quite simple. 

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The hazard perception is like a 
video test where you have to hit

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a button every time you see a 
hazard. 

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So a hazard is a danger when 
something could be dangerous. 

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And this test is also quite 
straightforward, so quite 

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simple, especially if you 
practice it lots of times 

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before. 
So the driving test is like a 

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practical driving exam and it 
tests your driving skills 

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including vehicle safety checks,
basic maneuvers, so for example 

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parking a car, reversing around 
a corner so going backwards and 

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parallel parking. 
So another type of parking. 

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And often the preparation for 
this test will involve your 

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instructor, so the person 
teaching you how to drive, 

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taking you to an area where your
test is, so getting you used to 

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driving the roads where the test
is and helping you to prepare 

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yourself for the test. 
So of course some different 

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things in the UK, so we drive on
the left side of the road. 

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My wife, she learned to drive on
the right side of the road and 

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coming to the UK she was a bit 
worried about driving on the 

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left, but to be honest it was 
not too hard for her to get used

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to driving on the left and I 
think she surprised herself at 

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how quickly she has gotten used 
to this. 

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Some of our driving rules are 
also different, including signs.

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Signs can look different from 
other countries, which makes the

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theory part of the test very 
important for new drivers in the

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UK. 
Pay lots of attention to these 

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signs and which ones are 
different or very different from

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your country, because sometimes 
signs can look similar to other 

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countries but mean completely 
different things. 

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So be very careful. 
And certain rules in the UK are 

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very strict, so in some 
countries they aren't so strict 

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about wearing seatbelts in the 
back of the car. 

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In the UK it is very strict, so 
you need to make sure that 

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you're wearing a seat belt when 
you're in the front or the back 

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of the car, because the driver 
it is the driver's 

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responsibility. 
So make sure all of your 

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passengers are wearing seatbelts
because you can lose your 

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license or get in a lot of 
trouble if any of your 

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passengers aren't wearing 
seatbelts. 

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Another thing which is different
from some countries like the US,

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In the UK we have a lot of 
roundabouts, so a circle that we

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drive around instead of 
junctions. 

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So when roads connect, the 
reason we have roundabouts is 

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because they are safer, so there
are less serious accidents on 

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roundabouts. 
But for new drivers in the UK 

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these can be confusing sometimes
and they take a while to get 

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used to. 
But with a little bit of 

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practice it's very easy to get 
used to. 

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So I'm going to make a separate 
episode of the podcast about 

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cars in the UK because it's 
quite interesting. 

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A lot of people in the UK drive 
manual cars, so mechanical cars.

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Some people call them so they 
don't drive automatic cars. 

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And there are some strange 
reasons for this. 

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And I'm going to do a separate 
video about cars and maybe 

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strange things in the UK with 
cars. 

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But thank you so much for 
listening. 

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Check out our YouTube channel if
you haven't already and 

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subscribe and share this podcast
with other English language 

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learners. 
Have a fantastic, amazing day 

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and I will speak to you soon. 
Goodbye.