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Driving Test Faults: Minor, Serious and Dangerous Explained

October 20, 2026
Driving Test Faults: Minor, Serious and Dangerous Explained

There are three types of driving test fault: driving faults (minors), serious faults and dangerous faults. You pass your car test with no more than 15 driving faults and no serious or dangerous faults. One serious or one dangerous fault is an automatic fail, however well the rest of your drive went. Below we explain what each type means, what examiners actually look for, which mistakes cost learners most often and how to practise so they never reach your test. 🚗

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TL;DR

  • Pass mark: no more than 15 driving faults (minors), and zero serious or dangerous faults.
  • One serious or dangerous fault fails you. A serious fault is potentially dangerous. A dangerous fault involves actual danger.
  • Repeating a minor can upgrade it. The same small mistake made again and again can be marked as a serious fault.
  • Junction observation is the top reason for failing, followed by mirror use when changing direction.
  • Don't try to read the examiner. Examiners mark an event after it has finished, so keep your focus on the next move.

Table of Contents

The three types of driving test fault

The examiner records every fault on a marking sheet as the test goes on. GOV.UK lists three categories, and the difference between them is about risk, not about how bad the mistake felt.

Fault typeWhat it meansEffect on your result
Driving fault (minor)Not potentially dangerous, a small deviation from the expected standardUp to 15 allowed
Serious faultSomething potentially dangerousAutomatic fail
Dangerous faultActual danger to you, the examiner, the public or propertyAutomatic fail

The Ready to Pass? campaign pages use the same three-way split. In July 2026, 48% of car driving tests in Great Britain ended in a fail, so a fault-free mindset matters: most candidates who fail do so on a serious or dangerous fault, not on the minor count.

Driving faults (minors)

A minor is a lapse that did not put anyone at risk. Think of a slightly late mirror check before a gentle slowdown, a little hesitation at a clear junction, or a wobble in your positioning on a quiet road. Minors are normal. Examiners expect nervous candidates to collect a few, and 15 is a generous allowance.

The catch is the word habitual. If you make the same minor error again and again, the examiner can treat it as a serious fault. So the real aim is not a spotless sheet. It is spotting a pattern early and correcting it for the rest of the drive.

Serious faults

A serious fault is something potentially dangerous. Nobody had to brake or swerve, but they might have. Examples are pulling out of a junction without looking properly, or cutting a corner so another road user would have been affected. One is enough to end your chance of passing that day.

Dangerous faults

A dangerous fault means real danger happened. The examiner had to step in, or someone else on the road had to react to avoid a collision. Physical intervention, such as the examiner using the dual controls or grabbing the wheel, is a clear sign of a serious or dangerous fault. Verbal advice from the examiner, by contrast, is not always a fail if it simply stops a situation getting worse.

Serious vs dangerous fault: does the difference matter?

For your result, no. Both mean a fail. For your learning, yes, because the difference tells you how close the mistake came to harm.

Here is a simple way to picture it, using a junction:

  • Minor: you looked both ways but a little late, and the road was clear and nobody was affected.
  • Serious: you looked, but did not judge the speed of an approaching car properly and pulled out when it could have been a problem.
  • Dangerous: you pulled out and the other driver had to brake hard or swerve to avoid you.

The feedback sheet you receive after a fail marks each fault under the skill it belongs to. GOV.UK's guide to understanding your car driving test result explains what was assessed in each area and how to improve. Read it before booking your next test. It is the nearest thing to a personal improvement plan that you will get for free.

How many minor faults can you make on a driving test?

How many minor faults can you make on a driving test? — overview diagram

You can make up to 15 and still pass, provided you have no serious or dangerous fault. Sixteen minors is a fail.

A few honest points about that number:

  1. 15 is a ceiling, not a target. A drive with 12 minors across 12 different skills is a much healthier drive than one with 5 minors that are all the same mistake.
  2. Spread matters. Minors scattered across different areas show a generally competent driver. A cluster in one area suggests a gap in that skill.
  3. Seven minors is not bad. It is well inside the limit. Many passes come with several minors, and examiners do not mark you down for having them.

The first rule of assessment: why one slip is not the end

Examiners are trained to apply a principle in the DVSA marking guidance known as the first rule of assessment. In plain terms, they judge a fault on its own: if everything before and after that moment was good, would that single mistake alone make the drive unsafe?

That is reassuring. A one-off lapse in concentration does not automatically mean a fail. What counts is how safe your driving is overall, and whether a mistake is a pattern.

The guidance also tells examiners not to be hasty. They wait until an event has finished before marking a fault, so they have the full picture. This is why you should never try to guess what they are writing, or read a sigh as a sign you have failed. Make the next decision well and carry on.

The most common reasons people fail

The DVSA publishes a top 10 list of reasons for failing, based on data from April 2024 to March 2025. The most common is not making effective observations at junctions. According to the DVSA's 2024 bulletin to instructors, the list runs:

  1. Junctions: observation
  2. Mirrors when changing direction
  3. Moving off safely
  4. Junctions: turning right
  5. Response to traffic lights
  6. Control: steering
  7. Response to traffic signs
  8. Response to road markings
  9. Positioning in normal driving
  10. Use of speed

The list is remarkably stable from year to year. These are not exam tricks. They are safety habits, which is why they dominate.

1. Observation at junctions

This fault means failing to judge the speed of approaching vehicles properly, or emerging into someone's path so that they have to brake or steer away. Looking is not the same as seeing. You need to look, assess the speed and gap, and only then commit.

What helps:

  • Approach slowly enough to get a proper view, then stop or creep forward only as far as you need.
  • Look right, left, then right again at T-junctions, and keep checking until you actually go.
  • Practise at busy and awkward junctions, not only at the quiet ones near home.

2. Mirrors when changing direction

This covers checking your mirrors effectively before changing lane, signalling, turning, or speeding up or slowing down. The DVSA's own advice to instructors calls it a simple mistake, and it is one of the easiest to fix. Make mirror, signal, manoeuvre a reflex, and let the mirror check lead to a decision, not just a glance.

3. Moving off safely

Check mirrors and blind spots, look for pedestrians and cyclists, and only then go. In an automatic car you have one less thing to coordinate, which leaves more attention for the observation part.

4. Turning right at junctions

Two things go wrong here: positioning and observation. Keep to the correct position on approach, watch for oncoming traffic, and do not cut the corner or swing wide on the way out.

5 to 8. Signs, signals and markings

Traffic lights, traffic signs and road markings account for three places on the list. Most of these faults are about attention and anticipation, not about not knowing the rules. Our guide to the three road signs learners must know goes through what to watch for.

6, 9 and 10. Steering, positioning and speed

These three are about smooth, accurate control: steering without drifting, keeping a safe position away from parked cars and the kerb, and driving at a speed that suits the road. Driving too slowly can be marked as well as driving too fast. If you want to see how roundabouts fit in, our guide to mini roundabouts covers three turns to practise.

Why the same fault comes back: a worked example

Imagine a learner who checks the right mirror before moving off, but regularly forgets the blind spot. On a quiet road the examiner marks a minor. The second time, a minor again. By the fourth time the examiner is looking at a pattern, and a habitual minor can become a serious fault.

Repeated blind spot error escalating to serious fault

The fix is not trying harder on the day. It is turning the missing check into a habit in the weeks before. Ask your instructor to point it out every time, then to stop prompting and see whether you still do it. If you do it unprompted five lessons running, it is yours.

What to do during the test when you make a mistake

  • Carry on. A minor is not a fail. Keep your concentration on the road in front of you.
  • Do not apologise or narrate. You do not need to explain a slip to the examiner.
  • Stay safe first. If you are unsure at a junction, wait. A short pause costs you far less than a rushed pull-out.
  • Reset on the next hazard. Treat each junction, roundabout and crossing as a fresh question.
  • Ask if you did not understand an instruction. It is better than guessing.

For the independent driving section, our 20 minute independent driving drills show how to stay calm when you cannot remember a direction. If you worry about the manoeuvres, see what examiners actually ask.

Our view: practise the skills, not the test

We teach in automatic electric cars, and we see the same thing every week. Learners who fail do not usually lack car control. They lack consistency. The mirror check that happens in lesson 12 but not in lesson 13. The junction look that is perfect on a quiet estate and rushed on a busy main road.

That is why we encourage learners to track skills across many lessons, not chase one great lesson. In an electric automatic there is no clutch and no gear changes to think about, which frees your attention for observation, positioning and planning. Those are exactly the areas where most test faults come from. And because every lesson is logged in the Total Drive app, you and your parents can see which skills are secure and which still need work. 😊

Our advice, in three points:

  • Treat the DVSA top 10 as your checklist. If you can do all ten without prompting, you are in good shape.
  • Ask for a mock test before the real one. A marked practice drive shows your habits under pressure, and gives you a count of minors you can act on. Here is how our mock test works.
  • Aim for safe driving for LIFE, not a pass certificate. The habits that stop faults are the same habits that keep you out of collisions afterwards.

— Stuart Chant

A practical plan to cut your faults before the test

Use this over the last few weeks of lessons. For a fuller version, see our 10-day plan to beat the top 10 fails.

  1. Get a baseline. Ask your instructor to mark a full mock drive using the DVSA categories. Write down every minor and any serious fault.
  2. Pick two or three recurring faults. Do not try to fix everything at once.
  3. Drill them in context. Do not practise a junction look in isolation. Do it on a route with real traffic.
  4. Use commentary. Talking through what you see helps you notice what you are missing. Our guide to commentary driving shows how to do it.
  5. Build hazard awareness. Observation faults are often hazard faults. Our hazard perception plan helps with the theory side.
  6. Repeat the mock drive. Compare the count of minors, and check that no pattern remains.
  7. Keep a skills log. Our driving lesson checklist lists 27 skills worth tracking.

Lessons that fit this plan

If you want a plan built on this approach, our DVSA Approved Driving Instructors teach in automatic, zero-emission electric cars across Alton, Basingstoke, Hook, Newbury, Thatcham and the surrounding areas. Every instructor is Enhanced DBS checked. Prices as published on our site:

OptionPrice
2 Hour Lesson£99
10 Hour Lessons Package£475
20 Hour Lesson Package£935
Driving Test Lesson£148

You can also give lessons as a gift: a 2 Hour Lesson Gift Voucher is £99 and a 10 Hour Package Gift Voucher is £475. See the options and book here, or find out more about Positive Evolution. If you are still working out the paperwork first, start with our guide to provisional licence requirements.

Looking further ahead: a licence you keep for life

Passing is the start of your driving record, not the end. Clean habits matter long after the test, because some countries run points-based licences with recovery courses for drivers who build up penalties. France is one: if you ever drive there, points-recovery courses in France exist for drivers who need them. The simplest way never to need one is to build the observation and mirror habits that stop faults in the first place.

FAQ

What is the number one reason for failing a driving test?

Not making effective observations at junctions. The DVSA's most recent published top 10, covering April 2024 to March 2025, puts it first. It usually means misjudging the speed of approaching traffic or pulling out so that another driver has to react.

Is 7 minors bad?

No. You can make up to 15 driving faults and still pass, so 7 is comfortably inside the limit. What matters more is whether those minors are spread across different skills or are the same mistake repeated, because a repeated minor can be marked as a serious fault.

What happens if the examiner steps in during my test?

It depends on how. Verbal advice that simply stops a situation getting worse is not always a fail. Physical intervention, such as using the dual controls or taking the steering wheel, is a clear sign of a serious or dangerous fault and the test will normally be stopped.

Can I ask the examiner which faults I made?

Yes, the examiner will give you brief feedback at the end of the test. You will also receive an email afterwards showing which driving, serious or dangerous faults were recorded. Use it to plan your next lessons.

Does one mistake mean I have failed?

Not necessarily. Examiners judge each fault in isolation, asking whether that one mistake alone would make an otherwise good drive unsafe. A small slip that is not repeated is usually a minor.

Sources