Motorway rules theory test questions

57 questions in this topic

Motorways have their own rules and their own signs, and you can be asked about them before you have ever driven on one. Joining and leaving, which lane to use, what the hard shoulder is for, and what the signs above the carriageway mean.

It also covers who cannot use a motorway, breakdowns, and the smart motorway signals that change what a lane is being used for.

Practise motorway rules

Questions come from the DVSA revision question bank, used under licence. You will not see whether an answer is right until you have committed to one, which is the point. A sample of every topic is free and needs no account.

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The fastest roads with the fewest surprises

Motorways take away many of the things that cause collisions on other roads: no pedestrians, no cyclists, no right turns across traffic, no roundabouts in the middle. What they add is speed, and speed means that a mistake that would be a scrape in town can be a serious crash at seventy.

Learning before you have done it

Many people take their theory test without ever having driven on a motorway, but learners in England, Scotland and Wales can now have motorway lessons, as long as they are with an approved driving instructor in a dual-controlled car. If that option is open to you, it is worth taking before you are out there on your own.

Getting on and off

Joining is where nerves show. The slip road is your chance to get up to the same pace as the cars you are joining, so use all of it. Look early, find a gap, and merge into it without stopping at the end unless you genuinely have to. Leaving works the other way round: get into the left lane in good time, signal, and do your slowing down on the slip road rather than on the main carriageway.

Lanes and lane discipline

The lane on the far left is home. You move out to pass something and come back in once you are clear of it. Sitting in the middle lane with nobody to your left is one of the most common bad habits on British roads, and the police can stop you for it. Overtaking on the left is not allowed, except when traffic is moving in slow queues and the lane to your left happens to be moving faster.

Signs above your head

The overhead gantries can shut a lane, drop the limit or flag up stopped traffic before you can see it. If a red X lights up over the lane you are in, move out of it: staying in a closed lane is an offence. On smart motorways, some of which have no hard shoulder at all or open it to traffic at busy times, knowing where the next emergency area is can matter if your car starts to go wrong.

In the test

Expect a mix of hard rules and signs. Learn the lane rules and the gantry signals precisely, because there is no common sense route to the answer if you have never seen them.

How this topic appears in the real test

The car theory test is 50 multiple choice questions in 57 minutes, and you need 43 correct to pass. The questions are drawn from every topic, so you cannot skip one and hope. There is a hazard perception part as well, and you have to pass both on the same day.

These are revision questions rather than the questions you will be asked on the day.