13^th October 2017 by ingenie

Driving practice plans from 10 minutes to an hour

The worst thing about learning to drive? The cost. The second worst thing? How much time it takes!

Ironically, the one thing that can cut down on the number of driving lessons you need is...spending more time driving!

Practising outside of lessons is the very best way of making sure you're solidifying the knowledge you're getting from your instructor. And it doesn't have to be hours at a time.

How to work driving practice into your schedule

And not just yours - your practice partner's. If your mum or dad is nice enough to agree to help you practise your driving, you need to be able to grab any spare minute you can find.

So whether that's a couple of hours a week or 10 minutes of driving here and there, we've got a practice plan for you.

Your mini driving practice plans

The 10-minute driving practice plan

With time short, you need to stay around your home. That means - parking!

If you live close to the street, you can practise your parallel parking or bay parking for real. If you have a big drive or you're more rural, put out some cones (or flower pots if you're brave!) and do some faux manoeuvres.

Parallel park - both ways!
Bay park forward and backwards

The 20-minute driving practice plan

15 minutes is a good amount of time for getting to know your practice car's quirks.

This is a good one for your very first practice drive outside of lessons. Make sure you only cover what you've done with your instructor and go easy because it can be a bit nervy the first time.

Try adjusting your seat and head rest so you're comfy
Go through your practice car's controls: lights, indicators and wipers
Try moving off and stopping just to get the feel of the clutch and brakes
Drive to the end of the road, remembering your observation
Find somewhere safe to turn around - indicators and steering practice
Pull up safely using obervation, clutch control, foot brake and handbrake.

Phew! You did it.

The 30-minute driving practice plan

You've got just enough time to drive around the block to practise your moving off, observation, indicating and junctions.

This one's great for an everyday, low-on-time practice just to keep yourself sharp.

Check your seat, head rest and controls are all where they should be
Move off, with all your observation
Go through your gears as you get safely up to speed
Keep your observation game going so you're reacting to other drivers
Take some left and right turns with lovely observation, positioning and indication
Head for home
Pull up perfectly and stop safely

The one-hour driving practice plan

And hour is a great amount of time for some driving practice because you can cover plenty of miles. This is an opportunity to practise a test route because your driving test will include 20 minutes of indepedent driving - and you'll still have time to get there and back if you're local.

It's also the perfect chance to practise driving with a satnav. The new driving test includes driving to satnav directions so you'll need plenty of experience with that. If you want an exact test route, ask your driving instructor to help you plot the route in your satnav after a lesson, including how to get there.

Set up the satnav so you won't need to touch it again
Move off and start your journey with great observation
Make sure you're keeping focus on the road while listening to directions
Follow the test route (your practice buddy could note down anything tricky for you)
If the test centre will be open, include a bay park if it's safe
Head for home

Driving test examiners have a million options for where to take you so don't get too attached to 'test routes' - it's just good to practise in the test centre area.