The new driving test makes things easier for you

The mandatory introduction of road-safety systems in standard production vehicles reduces the demands of the new driving test and makes it easier to pass

With technology that advances every year toward greater safety both inside and outside the car, preventive or driver-assistance systems make the task of driving a car easier.

That is why it is undeniable that the inclusion of ADAS, or Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, increases safety when using cars, but also eases certain tasks while driving and, to an even greater extent, during the new driving test.

Actions such as parking the vehicle more nimbly and without making contact with any nearby object, pulling away from a standstill on a slope without the car rolling back due to gravity, switching on the windscreen wipers when it rains, or turning on the correct lights when the light level drops.

Up to a total of seven of these assistants are now permitted in the vehicles used during the practical driving test.

Driving assistance systems permitted in the new driving test

The assistants that the Directorate-General of Traffic has allowed driving schools to fit and use in their cars include rear-view cameras, hill-start assist, the Start-Stop system, cross-traffic alert, emergency braking warning or, directly, the emergency braking system together with drowsiness detection, and they can operate during the new driving test without affecting the final result.

It is true that the DGT reserves the right to require the candidate for a driving licence to demonstrate their ability to perform the same task without these new aids operating, whenever the examiner so requires. This will hardly ever happen, since it would rely on the obligation that certain technologies or devices are already mandatory by road-safety regulation.

It would be odd for an examiner to require a manoeuvre that is mandatory and permanent, both before and now under the new driving test, such as parking, to be carried out with the rear-view camera or the proximity detection sensors and warnings around the vehicle switched off.

That is why, for those of us who obtained our licence without these aids, there is no doubt that, from 1 September, passing the new driving test is easier.

Not because the candidates have become less capable, but because of the inclusion of systems that intervene and promote safety, yet also reduce the finesse needed to handle a car or lighten the attention required of the person at the wheel of the driving school car during the new driving test.