Road to Solo Driving: the Victorian learner handbook

Where to get it

It’s also available in Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Turkish and Vietnamese, from the same Transport Victoria page. The current PDF runs to 173 printed pages, so it’s worth having a plan.

What’s in it

• The licensing journey: the steps from Ls to Ps to a full licence, and the rules for each stage
• Learning to drive and the risks new drivers face
• Alcohol, drugs, fatigue, phones and other distractions
• Speed limits and how to keep a safe gap
• Road signs, road markings and traffic lights
• Giving way, turning, signalling, overtaking and freeways
• Sharing the road with pedestrians, bike riders, trams, trucks and emergency vehicles
• Parking, penalties and what to do after a crash

Where to spend your time

The rule-heavy sections are where marks are won and lost. Signs and markings, give way rules and turning together take up a big slice of the book, and they’re full of specifics you can’t guess.

Don’t skip the licensing section at the front either. Rules like the zero alcohol limit for L and P drivers, the ban on touching a phone while driving, and the 120 hours of supervised driving for under-21s are exactly the kind of thing the test asks about.

Some of the Victoria-only rules catch people out, especially hook turns and the rules around trams. Give those a second read.

Pair it with practice questions

Reading alone won’t tell you what stuck. Near the back of the handbook there are a few sample questions to try. The free VicRoads practice test goes further: 32 random questions, and every wrong answer points you back to the part of the handbook that covers it. Read a section, test yourself, then reread whatever you missed.