Other types of vehicle theory test questions

Not everything on the road works like your car

A car is light, short, quick to stop and easy to see out of. Most other vehicles you share the road with are at least one of heavy, long, slow or partly blind. This topic is about understanding those differences well enough to predict what the vehicle next to you is going to do, and why.

Lorries and buses

The bigger the vehicle, the larger the area around it the driver cannot see. A useful rule of thumb is that if you cannot see the driver's face in one of their mirrors, they almost certainly cannot see you. Sitting alongside a lorry, or just behind its back corner, is the worst place to be.

Length brings its own problems. On a tight left turn a lorry often has to start from further out than you would, and on a roundabout it may need two lanes. It is not bad driving, it is geometry, and the gap that opens up beside it is not an invitation. If a bus is indicating to leave a stop, letting it go is the decent thing to do when it is safe. It cannot take a different route round you.

Trams and level crossings

A tram goes where its rails go and nowhere else, so getting out of its way is your job. Trams are also quiet, which makes them easy to miss in a busy street. Where the rails run along the street, watch for the extra signals at junctions, and be careful on a bike or motorbike, where the rails can catch a thin tyre.

Slow vehicles on country roads

Tractors, horseboxes and road maintenance vehicles travel far slower than the limit allows, often on roads where overtaking is risky. It is tempting to pass at the first gap. Wait for a stretch where the view ahead is long enough to finish the move without cutting back in, and remember a tractor may turn into a field gate with very little warning.

Motorcycles

Motorcycles are small, fast and often hidden behind other traffic or in your blind spot. A proper look over your shoulder before changing lane, and a second look at junctions, catch most of them.

In the test

The questions in this topic reward thinking from the other driver's seat. Ask yourself what they can see and what their vehicle is able to do.