Learning To Drive (More Information)
Overview
Learning to drive a car in Northern Ireland will bring you into contact with two government agencies that work closely together. Driver and Vehicle Licensing Northern Ireland (DVLNI) will issue your provisional and full driving licences. The Driver and Vehicle Testing Agency (DVTA) will carry out your theory and practical driving tests.
Learning to drive is a sequence of events which starts when you apply for a provisional driving licence and continues when you pass both your theory and practical driving tests and get your full licence. But that is not the end of the process. New drivers may take more training after they have got their full licence, and the learning process continues throughout your driving life.
You do not have to pass your theory test before you can start learning to drive. In fact, DVTA recommends that you have practical lessons before you take your theory test because you are likely to do better if you already have some experience of driving on the road. But you must not drive until you have applied for and received your first provisional licence and it has come into effect.
The theory test is made up of 35 multiple-choice questions and you have to answer at least 30 of them correctly. They cover topics such as:
- driver attitude and awareness
- traffic signs and regulations
- the effects of alcohol, drugs and tiredness on drivers' behaviour
- safety and environmental aspects of vehicles
- The Highway Code
- Know your Traffic Signs
- The Official Driving Manual
- can drive your vehicle safely on the road
- can carry out the set exercises such as reverse parking and a turn in the road
- know the Highway Code and can demonstrate this through your driving
