The Brighton driving test routes, and what each one is really testing

Most people preparing for their test in Brighton practise the roads near where they live. That is fine for building confidence, but it is not what the test is about. The examiner is not sampling your local knowledge — they are sampling your ability to read a road you have not seen before.

What the routes have in common

Brighton's routes are compact, busy and hilly. Whichever one you draw, you will almost certainly meet:

• A steep hill start. The city is built on a slope. If your clutch control is shaky, this is where it shows.
• A complex multi-lane roundabout. Usually Preston Circus or the Vogue Gyratory.
• Narrow residential streets with parking on both sides. This is the single biggest source of faults we see: hesitation and poor forward planning when meeting oncoming traffic.
• A bus lane you must not enter, next to a bus lane you may. Read the plate, not the paint.

The fault that fails most people

It is not the manoeuvre. It is observation at junctions — specifically, pulling up to a give-way line, looking right, and moving off without a second look left. In a city with this many cyclists, examiners mark it hard, and they are right to.

How to practise properly

Drive roads you do not know. Ask whoever is with you to pick the turns at random. The goal is to stop rehearsing a route and start reading a road.

If you want a mock test on unfamiliar roads with a running commentary on what an examiner would mark, that is exactly what we do in the two lessons before your test.