Monday Roundup — 24 August 2026

Happy Monday! Welcome to this week's roundup from Support Driving School — a practical tip to make you a better driver, the driving news that actually matters, and a celebration of our learners' wins from the past week.

This week's top tip

This week we're looking at independent driving — the part of the test where the examiner stops giving turn-by-turn directions and asks you to follow a sat nav or a series of road signs for around 20 minutes. It's the bit learners worry about most, and almost always the bit they handle better than they expected.

Here's the thing to hold on to: independent driving is not a navigation test. Going the wrong way is not a fault. If you miss a turning, the sat nav simply reroutes and you carry on. What the examiner is watching is how safely you drive while making your own decisions — your observations, your planning, your speed for the conditions. A calm, safe wrong turn scores better every time than a rushed, panicky right one.

The habit worth building now is what one of our pupils summed up perfectly: read the gantry, then read the ground. Take the information early — the sat nav screen, the overhead sign, the direction sign on the verge — then confirm it with the road markings as you get closer. Look far ahead so you're never deciding at the last second, and glance at the sat nav in the same way you'd check a mirror: a quick look while the road ahead is clear, never a stare.

Driving news you can use

There's some genuinely encouraging news on test availability. The DVSA now has its highest number of driving examiners in post since March 2018, after doubling its examiner training capacity and reopening the scheme that lets examiners deliver extra tests. More than 184,000 additional tests were delivered between June 2025 and March 2026, and the agency is still working towards an average waiting time of seven weeks. Why it matters: waits are still long in many areas, but the direction of travel is finally the right one — and being test-ready when a slot appears matters more than ever.

• Worth remembering: you need to give 10 full working days' notice to move or cancel a car driving test if you want to keep your fee. Anything later and you lose it — so if a date is looking shaky, flag it with your instructor early rather than leaving it to the last week.
• Book directly through GOV.UK. Only the learner themselves can book or manage a test now, and third-party booking and cancellation-finding services are no longer permitted.

Weekly wins 🎉

A lovely week of progress across the team — three learners who all took a real step forward in how they think about driving, not just how they handle the car.

Dave had a cracking lesson and was excellent at managing risk. Best of all, he got to the why behind his decisions — that's the difference between following instructions and genuinely driving.

Theno tackled meeting traffic for the first time, along with some really awkward left and right turns. Her curiosity is going to be a superpower on this journey — asking good questions is how safe drivers are made.

Rachel explored the nuances of driving and how the same situation can call for a different response. We looked at the black-and-white areas and the grey ones, and how to lean on gut instinct and experience when the rulebook doesn't give you a neat answer.

Read the gantry, then read the ground.

Whether you're weeks away from your test or still finding your feet, every one of these wins started as something that felt difficult. Keep going — and we'll see you next Monday.