Practical driving test videos with a synchronised map of the route.

I don't know about you, but I was very nervous for my practical driving test many years ago. In hindsight, when the driving instructor was telling me where I was driving was possibly part of the actual practical driving test route, I really had no idea what he meant. With dashcams it's now possible for drivers and instructors to share actual video footage of the practical driving test and I feel, those videos can take away some of the mystery of the practical driving test.

In addition I find many older people like myself don't realise the road rules have evolved over the years and watching people take their practical driving test can often show things we don't know or could do better. For example, I find older people (including myself) think when you turn from one road (say from single lane or slip lane) into a road with multiple lanes we have to stick to the left lane and then move across to the right lane when it's safe to do so. This often means the car behind you cuts you off trying to go around you. Knowing that I can go into either lane makes for safer driving for me and knowing the rules takes some of the stress out of driving. Even for more experienced drivers checking out practical driving test videos can teach them a thing or two.

The practical driving test videos can all be found on YouTube but the problem I've found is to find them. There's a lot of videos and many are just people trying to get you to watch their video. The aim of the Practical Driving Test site is to link directly to real people doing the actual practical driving test. This is good for the creator of the video too as they get all the credit for the video including any potential revenue or subscribers the video may generate.

The one thing I found from watching the videos on YouTube is I wanted to be able to see the actual route taken for the practical driving test. Just driving along turning right and left doesn't really give me the context of where the drive was located or where the person drove. For that reason I've created a map  of each drive which shows the route and the route is synchronised with the video. Using the map it's possible to click on a location on the map and start watching the practical driving test video from that point in the video.

I hope others find watching practical driving test videos as interesting as I do.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.PracticalDrivingTest.com.au