Learn To Drive
A free written guide to learning to drive, covering everything from finding the biting point to reading a spiral roundabout. It is the companion to the Lessons app, so the sections here follow the same order your instructor works through on the road.
Nothing here replaces time behind the wheel with a qualified instructor. What it does is let you arrive at a lesson already knowing what a closed junction looks like, or leave one able to go back over the observation sequence at your own pace. Most learners find a briefing sinks in far better when they can read it again the evening after driving it.
The diagrams are the same ones used in the app, drawn from the driver's point of view wherever that is what matters.
Where to start
If you have not driven before, begin with Controls and Position. Those two sections cover everything that happens inside the car and where the car should sit on the road, which between them account for most of the first few lessons.
Once you are moving confidently, the remaining sections deal with the situations you meet out on the road, roughly in the order most instructors introduce them.
The sections
Controls — the cockpit drill, mirrors and blind spots, and every pedal, lever and switch you need before the car moves at all.
Position — where to place the car: moving off and stopping, passing obstacles, following distances, lane discipline and bends.
Manoeuvres — the set-piece exercises, from parallel parking and bay parking to reversing and the turn in the road.
Stopping — following distance, planning ahead, what to do in a skid, and the controlled stop you may be asked to demonstrate on test.
Pedestrian Crossings — zebra, pelican, puffin and the rest, and how to tell which one you are approaching.
Junctions — give way and stop junctions: turning in and out of them, and dealing with crossroads.
Traffic Lights — light sequences, filter arrows, box junctions and turning right across traffic.
Roundabouts — mini, small, medium, large and spiral, and why the approach differs for each.
Dual Carriageways — joining and leaving by slip road, overtaking, and turning right where there is no slip road at all.