Lorries, Buses and Large Vehicles on Your Driving Test in 2026: Blind Spots, Space and Safe Overtaking

Almost every driving test route in the UK involves at least one lorry, bus or large van. On a town route it might be a refuse lorry blocking a residential street. On a dual carriageway it might be an articulated lorry sitting in lane one at 56 mph. On a test centre approach it is very often a bus pulling out from a stop just as you arrive.

Examiners are not testing whether you can drive a lorry. They are testing whether you understand that a large vehicle behaves differently to a car, and whether you adjust your own driving accordingly. Get that wrong and it shows up on the marking sheet under headings like observation, position, response to hazards and, in the worst cases, as a serious fault.

Here is what actually matters, in the order it tends to come up on test.

Why Large Vehicles Are Different

Three things change when the vehicle next to you is a lorry or a bus.

They cannot see you where a car driver could. A large goods vehicle has significant blind spots directly in front of the cab, immediately below and along the nearside, and in a long band down the offside. The classic danger zone is the nearside of a lorry that is about to turn left. If you are alongside it there, the driver may have no view of you at all.

They need more room. A lorry turning left will often swing out to the right first, and vice versa. If you fill the gap that opens up, you have put yourself somewhere the vehicle is about to move into. Never assume a large vehicle’s indicator tells you which way the whole vehicle will travel in the next three seconds.

They take longer to stop. A fully loaded lorry needs a far greater distance to come to a halt than a car does. If you cut in front of one and then brake, you have removed the space it needs. This is one of the most dangerous mistakes a new driver can make and it is marked accordingly.

Following a Large Vehicle

Sitting behind a lorry or a bus is the situation you will meet most often on test. The rule is simple: hang back further than feels necessary.

• Keep at least a two-second gap in dry conditions, and double it in the wet. Behind a large vehicle, more is better, because you cannot see through it.
• Position for view where it is safe. On a clear road you can sit slightly towards the centre line to improve your forward view — but only if that does not put you in the path of oncoming traffic or make you look like you are about to overtake.
• Do not creep. Learners often close the gap when the lorry slows, then find themselves too close when it stops. If it slows, you slow further back.
• Expect spray. In the wet, a lorry throws up an enormous amount of water. Wipers on, and accept that your view will be poor until you can pass safely.

Examiners consistently record faults for learners driving too close behind large vehicles, and it is entirely avoidable. If you can read the lorry’s mirrors, the driver can probably see you. If you cannot, you are too close.

Buses: The Test-Route Special

Buses are more common on driving test routes than lorries because test routes are built around towns. Three scenarios come up constantly.

A bus at a stop. Do not assume it will stay there. The Highway Code asks you to give way to buses signalling to pull out from a stop where it is safe to do so. Ease off, let it go, and you will be marked well for anticipation. Barging past as it indicates is a fault.

Passing a stopped bus. You need enough room and enough visibility. Pedestrians step out from in front of stopped buses without looking — children especially. Slow right down, look for feet under the bus if you can, and be ready to stop.

Bus lanes. Check the operating hours on the sign. If it is active, stay out unless you are permitted. Drifting into an operational bus lane on test is a straightforward fault, and in real life it is a penalty charge notice.

Overtaking a Large Vehicle

You do not have to overtake anything on your driving test. Examiners will never penalise you for choosing not to overtake when it is not clearly safe. They will penalise you for an overtake that is rushed, badly judged or unnecessary.

If you do overtake, the checklist is:

1. Is it legal? No solid white line on your side, not approaching a bend, brow, crossing or junction.
2. Is it necessary? If the lorry is doing 55 mph in a 60 zone and your exit is a mile away, leave it.
3. Can you see far enough? You need to see the whole overtake and the space beyond it before you start.
4. Mirrors, signal, position, speed, look. Full mirror check and a blind-spot check before you move out on a multi-lane road.
5. Pass decisively and get back in safely. Do not sit alongside the vehicle. Once you can see both its headlights in your interior mirror, you have room to move back in.

Crucially, remember that lorries are speed-limited. On a dual carriageway an HGV is typically limited to around 56 mph, and one lorry overtaking another at 56.5 mph can block lane two for a long time. Be patient in that situation rather than hunting for a gap that does not exist.

Roundabouts and Junctions with Large Vehicles

This is where the most serious incidents happen, so it is where examiners are most alert.

• Never go up the inside of a lorry at a junction or roundabout. If it is signalling left and you are on its nearside, you are in the worst possible place. Hold back.
• Expect it to straddle lanes. A long vehicle may need both lanes to get round a roundabout. Give it the room rather than defending your lane.
• Leave the box. If a large vehicle is manoeuvring into a tight junction, hanging back by an extra car length often solves the whole problem.
• Cyclists and lorries together. If you can see a cyclist on the nearside of a turning lorry, be ready for the lorry driver not to have seen them. Hold your position and do not add a third vehicle to the conflict.

The Faults Examiners Actually Record

When large vehicles are involved, faults typically appear in these categories:

• Following too close — recorded under following distance, and marked as serious if it creates real risk.
• Position – normal driving — for sitting in a lorry’s blind spot or hugging the nearside of a turning vehicle.
• Response to hazards — for failing to anticipate a bus pulling out or a lorry swinging wide.
• Observation at junctions — for pulling out into the path of a large vehicle whose speed you have misjudged. Big vehicles look slower than they are.
• Undue hesitation — the opposite problem. Sitting frozen behind a stopped lorry when there is a clear, safe opportunity to pass is also a fault.

That last point matters. The goal is not to be timid around large vehicles. It is to be deliberate: hang back, plan, then act decisively when the situation is genuinely safe.

How to Practise This Before Your Test

1. Drive your test-centre area at delivery times. Early morning and mid-morning are when refuse lorries, supermarket deliveries and builders’ vehicles are on residential streets.
2. Drive a bus route. Pick a road with frequent stops and drive it end to end. You will get five or six bus scenarios in twenty minutes.
3. Spend time on a dual carriageway. Get used to the sensation of passing an articulated lorry, including the buffeting and the spray.
4. Ask your instructor to commentate. Have them talk through what the lorry driver can and cannot see. Once you have heard it a few times you will start doing it yourself.
5. Practise in the rain. Spray from large vehicles is genuinely disorientating the first time. Better to meet it on a lesson.

Frequently Asked Questions