UK Driving Theory Test Study Guide 2026

How the car theory test works

The car theory test in England, Scotland and Wales has two parts, taken one after the other at the same sitting: multiple-choice questions and hazard perception. You must pass both parts to pass the test.

Three of the multiple-choice questions are about a short, silent video of a normal driving situation, which you can watch as often as you like. You can flag questions and go back to change answers.

In hazard perception you click when you see a hazard starting to develop. Each developing hazard is worth up to 5 points, and one clip has two. Clicking all the time or in a pattern scores nothing.

Before you book

• You need a provisional driving licence to book.
• You can take the test from your 17th birthday, or from 16 if you get, or have applied for, the higher rate of the mobility part of Personal Independence Payment.
• A car theory test costs £23 on GOV.UK.
• You can take the test in Welsh, or listen to it through headphones in English or Welsh.

A pass lasts 2 years. If you fail either part, you take the whole test again after at least 3 working days. The real questions are based on The Highway Code, Know your traffic signs and Driving – the essential skills; the practice questions here are original.

Alertness and attitude

Good drivers always know what is around them. The basic routine is Mirrors – Signal – Manoeuvre (MSM). Check your mirrors before you signal, change direction or change speed. Then signal if it would help others, and only then make your move.

Mirrors do not show everything. There are blind spots beside and behind the car, so look round before you pull out or change lanes. A cyclist or motorcyclist who looks over their shoulder may be about to pull out or turn.

Distractions and tiredness

• You must not hold or use a phone or similar device while driving, even in a traffic queue, or while supervising a learner. The exception is a 999 or 112 call in a genuine emergency when it is unsafe to stop.
• With driver assistance systems you are still responsible for the car.
• Stop somewhere safe before you set a sat nav route.
• Take a break of at least 15 minutes after every two hours. If you feel sleepy, stop in a safe place – not on a hard shoulder or in an emergency area.

Attitude

Only flash your headlights to let others know you are there, and never treat another driver's flash as a sign that it is safe to go. Do not sound your horn when stationary, or in a built-up area between 11.30 pm and 7 am, unless another road user is a danger.

If someone wants to overtake you, keep a steady speed and let them pass. Give buses priority when they pull away, be patient with learners, and keep junctions clear in slow traffic.

Safety and your vehicle

You must keep your vehicle roadworthy. Check it regularly and know what the warning lights on your dashboard mean.

• Tyres: at least 1.6 mm of tread across the central three-quarters, all the way round. Check pressures weekly, when cold.
• Fluids: check at least weekly. Low brake fluid can cause brake failure.
• Brakes: if the car pulls to one side when braking, suspect a brake fault or wrong tyre pressures.
• Warning lights: if one comes on while driving, stop and find out why.
• Overheating: let the engine cool before you remove the coolant cap.
• Fire: get everyone out and call the fire service. Do not open the bonnet.

Seat belts and children

You must wear a seat belt if one is fitted, unless exempt. The driver is responsible for children under 14. Children under 1.35 metres tall need a suitable child seat, booster seat or booster cushion. Never fit a rear-facing baby seat in front of an active airbag.

Security and the environment

Take the key and lock the car, even for a few minutes. Do not leave the engine running unnecessarily when stationary on a public road. Avoid coasting – driving in neutral or with the clutch down – because you lose engine braking.

Safety margins and stopping distances

Your overall stopping distance is your thinking distance (the distance you travel before you react) plus your braking distance. Both grow quickly as speed goes up. These are the typical figures from the Highway Code for a car on a dry road:

On fast roads, leave at least a two-second gap. As the vehicle in front passes a fixed point, say "Only a fool breaks the two-second rule." If you reach the point first, drop back. If you stop in a tunnel, leave at least 5 metres.

Weather

• Wet roads: stopping distances at least double. If the steering feels unresponsive, ease off the accelerator and slow down gradually.
• Ice and snow: stopping distances can be up to ten times longer. Clear all windows, lights and number plates first. Use as high a gear as possible and brake very gently.
• Fog: use headlights when you cannot see more than 100 metres. Use fog lights only when visibility is seriously reduced, and switch them off when it improves.
• Wind: high-sided vehicles, cyclists and motorcyclists are most affected.
• Deep water: test your brakes gently afterwards.

Hazard awareness

A hazard is anything that might make you change speed or direction. Scan well ahead and think about what could happen next. Slow down early so you have time to react.

• A flashing amber light under a School sign means children may be crossing.
• You must stop for a school crossing patrol showing a Stop for children sign.
• Drive slowly past ice cream vans, bus stops and a stopped School Bus.
• Do not assume a vehicle signalling left will turn.

Are you fit to drive?

You must be able to read a number plate from 20 metres in good daylight, wearing glasses or contact lenses if you need them. You must tell the DVLA about any health condition likely to affect your driving. Do not drive if a medicine may affect you – ask your doctor or pharmacist. The best advice on alcohol is not to drink at all if you are going to drive.

Speed matters for people outside the car. The Highway Code says a pedestrian hit at 40 mph will probably be killed, while at 20 mph there is about a 1 in 20 chance of death.

Vulnerable road users

The hierarchy of road users puts the people most at risk in a collision at the top. Those in charge of vehicles that can cause the greatest harm have the greatest responsibility to take care. Pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders and motorcyclists are the most likely to be injured, especially children, older people and disabled people. The hierarchy does not remove anyone's duty to behave responsibly.

• At a junction, give way to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross the road you are turning into or out of.
• You must give way to pedestrians on a zebra crossing, and to pedestrians and cyclists on a parallel crossing.
• Do not cut across cyclists, horse riders or horse-drawn vehicles going straight ahead when you turn. Wait for a safe gap.
• Only pedestrians, including wheelchair and mobility scooter users, may use the pavement.

Passing distances

If you cannot leave these gaps, wait behind. Never sound your horn or rev your engine near horses.

More people who need extra care

• Cyclists may ride in the centre of the lane on narrow roads or at junctions, keep about 1 metre from parked cars, and swerve to avoid drain covers or icy patches.
• After parking, open the driver's door with your left hand. This turns you to look back for cyclists.
• At an advanced stop line, stop at the first white line.
• Give older pedestrians time. A white cane with a red band means the person is deafblind.
• Mobility scooters have a top speed of 8 mph.

Other vehicles and vehicle handling

Large vehicles need extra room to turn and their drivers may not see you, so stay back. Many lorries are speed-limited to 56 mph. Trams are fast and quiet and cannot steer round you.

• Emergency vehicles use flashing blue, red or green lights. Let them pass safely, without breaking traffic rules or mounting the kerb.
• Traffic officers use flashing amber lights. Amber beacons also mark slow vehicles, such as snow ploughs and tractors.

Braking and skids

Brake early and lightly, then more firmly. Most skids come from harsh braking, accelerating or steering, or too much speed. If the back of the car skids to the right, steer to the right. With ABS, brake firmly and keep the pressure on.

Lights and road works

Keep headlights dipped when overtaking at night until you are level. If dazzled, slow down or stop. Use hazard lights while moving only on a motorway or unrestricted dual carriageway, to warn of a hazard ahead. Keep to temporary limits at road works, and slow down in contraflows.

Junctions, roundabouts and crossings

Approach junctions at a speed that lets you stop, look all around, and only pull out when the gap is big enough. At a Stop sign you must stop at the line even if the road is clear. Double broken white lines across your lane mean give way to traffic on the major road.

Box junctions

Do not enter a box junction unless your exit is clear. You may wait in it to turn right if only oncoming traffic or other right-turners stop you.

Turning right

When an oncoming car is also turning right, passing right side to right side (offside to offside) is generally safer.

Roundabouts

Give priority to traffic from your right, unless signs or markings say otherwise. For the first exit, signal left and use the left lane. For an exit to the right, signal right, use the right lane, and signal left after the exit before yours. Cyclists and horse riders may stay in the left lane all the way round. At a mini-roundabout, pass round the central marking and avoid U-turns.

Dual carriageways

If the gap in the central reservation is deep enough for your whole vehicle, treat each half as a separate road. If not, wait until you can cross both in one go.

Pedestrian crossings

Do not park on a crossing or its zig-zags, or overtake the vehicle nearest the crossing. You must give way once a pedestrian is on a zebra crossing. At a pelican crossing, flashing amber means give way to anyone on the crossing. Puffin, toucan and equestrian crossings have no flashing amber.

Speed limits, road markings and parking

Speed limits are the maximum, not a target. These are the national limits in mph. In built-up areas the limit is 30 mph in England and Scotland and 20 mph in Wales, unless signs show otherwise.

Lines along the road

A centre line with long lines and short gaps is a hazard warning line. If the line nearest you is solid, you must not cross it, except to turn off, pass a stopped vehicle, or overtake a cyclist, horse or road maintenance vehicle doing 10 mph or less. Do not enter chevrons bordered by a solid line except in an emergency.

Reflective studs help at night: white marks lanes or the middle of the road, red the left edge, amber the central reservation of a dual carriageway or motorway, and green the edge of the main road at lay-bys and slip roads.

Bus lanes

Signs show when a bus lane operates. Do not drive in it during those hours unless signs allow you.

Waiting and parking

• Do not park within 10 metres of a junction, unless in an authorised space.
• Do not park near a school entrance, a bus stop, a dropped kerb or on a bend.
• Yellow kerb marks mean no loading at the times on nearby plates.
• At night, do not park facing against the traffic. Where the limit is over 30 mph, leave parking lights on.
• On a hill, turn the wheels towards the kerb facing downhill, and away from it facing uphill.

Pavement parking is banned by law in London and Scotland. Elsewhere, do not do it unless signs permit it.

Motorways and smart motorways

Pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders, riders of motorcycles under 50 cc, holders of provisional motorcycle licences, mobility scooters and some slow vehicles must not use motorways. A learner car driver may only drive on a motorway with an approved driving instructor in a car with dual controls.

• When joining, give priority to traffic already on the motorway.
• Keep left unless overtaking. Vehicles towing trailers must not use the right-hand lane of a motorway with three or more lanes.
• Only overtake on the right, except in slow queues where your lane is moving faster.
• Do not stop except in an emergency or when told to – never to make a phone call.
• When you leave, check your speed: you may be going faster than you think.

Smart motorways

A red X means the lane is closed and you must not drive in it. A speed limit in a red circle is a legal limit. Flashing amber lights warn of a hazard ahead. Where the hard shoulder can be a lane, only use it when a speed limit is shown above it. Emergency areas have blue signs with an orange SOS telephone symbol.

If you break down

Try to reach an exit, an emergency area or the hard shoulder, and turn on your hazard lights. Get out on the side away from traffic if safe, and wait behind the barrier. If you cannot get out safely, stay in with your seat belt on and call 999.

Road signs and signals

Sign shapes tell you what kind of message they give. Circles give orders: a red circle mostly tells you what you must not do, and a blue circle tells you what you must do. Triangles warn. Rectangles give information. Two signs break the shape rule: the eight-sided Stop sign and the upside-down triangle Give Way sign.

Direction signs are colour-coded: blue on motorways, green on primary routes, white with a black border on other routes, and brown for tourist attractions.

Traffic lights

The sequence is red, red and amber, green, amber, then red. Red and amber together still mean stop. Amber means stop unless you have crossed the line or are too close to stop safely. If the lights are not working, treat the junction as unmarked. Alternately flashing red lights mean you must stop.

Arm signals and the police

If the police want you to stop, they will usually use flashing blue lights, headlights or a siren, then point or use the left indicator. Pull over and stop as soon as it is safe. You must obey signals from police officers, traffic officers and school crossing patrols.

Documents and the law

• Licence: you need a valid licence for the vehicle. Tell the DVLA if you change your name or address, buy or sell a vehicle, or have a health condition that affects driving.
• Insurance: the legal minimum is third party, which covers injury or damage to others but not your own car or yourself.
• MOT: in Great Britain, cars normally need an MOT three years after first registration and every year after that.
• Vehicle tax: must be paid on vehicles used or kept on public roads. If you keep a car untaxed and off the road, you must make a SORN.
• Showing documents: if the police ask and you do not have them, you may have to take them to a police station within seven days.

Learners and new drivers

A learner's supervisor must be at least 21 and have held a full licence for that type of car for at least three years. L plates (or D plates in Wales) must be shown at the front and back. If you get 6 or more penalty points within two years of passing, your licence is cancelled.

Incidents, breakdowns and first aid

If you break down on an ordinary road, use your hazard lights and place a warning triangle at least 45 metres (147 feet) behind the car on the same side of the road – never on a motorway.

At an incident, use your hazard lights, ask drivers to switch off their engines and ask everyone not to smoke. Call 999 with the location and number of casualties. Do not move injured people unless they are in immediate danger, and do not remove a motorcyclist's helmet unless it is essential and you are trained to do so.

First aid: DR ABC

1. Danger: check it is safe to approach.
2. Response: gently shake the casualty's shoulders and ask loudly, "Are you all right?"
3. Airway: place your fingers under their chin and lift it forward.
4. Breathing: check they are breathing normally. If not, start CPR: press the centre of the chest around 5 to 6 cm deep, about twice a second.
5. Circulation: stop heavy bleeding with firm pressure over the wound, unless something is stuck in it.

Put an unconscious casualty who is breathing into the recovery position. Cool burns with clean, cool water for at least 20 minutes. Do not give injured people anything to eat or drink.

After a collision

You must stop if a collision causes damage or injury. If you do not give your name and address at the scene, report it to the police as soon as reasonably practicable, and within 24 hours. Do the same if someone is injured and you cannot show your insurance certificate.

Level crossings

Never stop on a level crossing. If the amber light comes on before the white line, stop. If the red lights keep flashing after a train passes, wait: another train is coming. If you break down on a crossing, get everyone out and clear, then call the signal operator.

Loading and towing

Do not overload your vehicle or tow more than your licence allows. A trailer needs a secondary coupling, such as a safety chain. Set tyre pressures for the load. A vehicle with a projecting load must not be left on the road at night without lights.