Driving test faults: driving, serious and dangerous

The three fault types

A driving examiner records every fault against one of three categories. Which category a fault lands in depends on whether it affected safety, and whether anyone was put in actual danger.

• Driving fault (often called a "minor") — not potentially dangerous, but if repeated it can become a serious fault.
• Serious fault — potentially dangerous, or a habitual driving fault shown across the test.
• Dangerous fault — involved actual danger to the candidate, examiner, the public or property.

What passes and what fails

A candidate passes with up to 15 driving faults and no serious or dangerous faults.

A 16th driving fault fails the test. A single serious fault fails the test. A single dangerous fault fails the test.

The examiner may stop the test early if it becomes unsafe to continue, or if the candidate asks to stop. Otherwise the drive runs its full length regardless of faults already recorded.

How a minor becomes a serious

The same action can be marked differently depending on context and repetition. A single late observation at a quiet junction may be a driving fault; the same lapse repeated at busy junctions across the test is a habitual fault and marked serious.

When you run a mock, mark it the way an examiner would: note the driving faults as they happen, and step one up to serious when a fault is either dangerous in that moment or clearly a pattern.