Approaching and Emerging at Junctions on Your Driving Test in 2026

If you look at DVSA’s list of the most common reasons people fail the UK practical driving test, the top entry has barely moved in a decade: observation at junctions. Add “turning right at junctions” a few places below it and you have a large share of every fail in the country accounted for by a single part of the road.

Junctions are where almost everything you have been taught has to happen at once — mirrors, signal, position, speed, gear, look, decide. This guide breaks the whole thing into a sequence you can practise, explains what examiners are marking at each stage, and covers the specific junction types that catch learners out in 2026.

The Routine: MSPSL

Every junction approach follows the same structure. Learn it as a rhythm rather than a list:

1. Mirrors — interior first, then the door mirror on the side you are moving towards. Check early, not as you turn.
2. Signal — in good time, but not so early that it confuses drivers at an earlier turning.
3. Position — left turn: normal driving position, slightly left is fine. Right turn: close to the centre line without crossing it, unless road markings say otherwise.
4. Speed — reduce enough that you could stop if you had to. Most junction faults start with arriving too fast.
5. Look — and keep looking. Not one glance, but a continuous scan right, left, right until you are certain.

Examiners mark the observation part hardest because it is the part that keeps you alive. A glance that is too brief, taken too early, or aimed in only one direction is recorded as ineffective observation even if nothing was coming.

Approaching: Open and Closed Junctions

The single most useful distinction is whether the junction is open or closed:

• Open junction — you can see along the road you are joining well before the give-way line. You can keep the car rolling, look early, and emerge without stopping if it is genuinely clear.
• Closed junction — walls, hedges, parked cars or buildings block your view until you are at the line. You must slow to a crawl or stop, then creep forward until you can see, looking as you go.

Treating a closed junction like an open one is how learners produce dangerous faults. Treating an open junction like a closed one produces undue hesitation. Reading which is which, early, is the skill.

Emerging: Left, Right and Ahead

1. Turning left. The classic error is cutting the corner or swinging wide first. Keep to your side, check the nearside mirror for cyclists before you turn, and look into the road you are joining for pedestrians who are already crossing — under the Highway Code hierarchy, you must give way to them.
2. Turning right. The hardest of the three. You need a gap in traffic from both directions, you must not block the junction unnecessarily, and you should never assume an oncoming indicator means the other driver is actually turning. Wait for them to commit.
3. Going ahead at a crossroads. Check both directions and remember that no one has automatic priority at an unmarked crossroads. Approach at a speed where you can stop.
4. Turning right at a crossroads with an oncoming vehicle also turning right. Either offside to offside (passing behind each other, the safer default) or nearside to nearside if road markings or the other driver dictate. Whichever you use, your view is restricted — edge forward and look.

Junction Types That Catch Learners Out

• Staggered crossroads. You emerge, travel a short distance, then face another give-way almost immediately. Do not let the first success make you rush the second.
• Junctions on a hill. A right turn uphill needs handbrake control; a left turn downhill needs speed off much earlier.
• Junctions immediately after a bend. Very common on rural routes. Your speed on the bend determines whether you can deal with the junction properly.
• Box junctions at traffic lights. Do not enter unless your exit is clear, except when turning right and held only by oncoming traffic.
• Junctions with filter arrows. A green filter arrow gives you priority only in that direction. A full green does not.
• Yellow-hatched or ‘keep clear’ markings. Leaving these clear is part of your junction planning, not an afterthought.

Practising Junctions Properly

1. Slow the whole approach down in your head. Start the routine much earlier than feels necessary; you can always finish early.
2. Make observations visible. Move your head. The examiner marks what they can see you do.
3. Practise the same junction from all directions. A left turn in and a right turn out are completely different problems.
4. Get comfortable with normal gaps. Have your instructor talk you through gaps that are safe but not enormous, so you stop waiting for perfection.
5. Repeat the ones you dislike. Whichever junction makes you nervous is the one worth ten more attempts.

How the Exam Routes App Helps

Junction confidence comes from repetition on real roads. The Exam Routes App gives you actual driving test routes with turn-by-turn navigation, so you can practise the exact junctions your examiner is likely to use rather than guessing where they will take you.

Frequently Asked Questions