In an effort to bring the driving test up to date with life in the 21st century, it is to include a knuckle-whitening five miles up a major motorway against the traffic at rush hour.
"Let's face it, it happens to us all some day", a Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency spokesman announced. "The candidate will be expected to negotiate an average motorway with moderate to heavy traffic swerving out of their way in a blind panic. This will be followed by the standard three point turn".
"I think I handled that part pretty well", says 17-year-old Gareth Minster of Surrey, who took his test on Friday. "I just kept it cool, checking my rear view mirror every 20 seconds as you're told to do. There was one scary moment when a 40-ton truck was coming straight at me with the driver too absorbed in his smartphone to see me. But I gave one polite tap on the horn and he swerved out of the way and ploughed into the median barrier at the last minute".
"The worst part was when my mum came driving up the motorway just to wave at me", he adds. "I wish she wouldn't do that".