Hazard Perception Test ACT (HPT)

Access Canberra lists four steps to a car P licence: hold the learner licence for at least 12 months, or 6 months if you were 25 or older when you got it; complete the online HPT; drive your supervised hours, 100 including 10 at night if the licence was issued before you turned 25, or 50 including 5 at night if you were 25 or older; then get assessed through competency based training and assessment or a one-off practical driving assessment. Access Canberra then mails a P1 licence to drivers under 25 and a P2 licence to drivers aged 25 or older, and the provisional licence is held for 3 years before it becomes a full licence.

Who can sit it, and when

You can take the test online at any time from three months after you get your ACT learner licence, entering your name and learner licence number. Every learner licence holder issued with or renewing a learner licence after 1 January 2020 must pass it before upgrading to an ACT provisional licence.

What happens in the sitting

You watch 25 videos of about 15 seconds each, and the test takes about 20 to 30 minutes. It times out after 10 minutes without activity, and a time out counts as a failed attempt. A bigger screen makes hazards easier to see, and if you cannot see well part way through you can switch to another device within 10 minutes and carry on. A completion certificate appears at the end, and you do not need to bring it when you apply for your licence.

Where to sit it

Online, on the ACT Safe Plates Testing site that Access Canberra links to. For a technical problem during the test, call 13 22 81.

If you do not pass

After a first fail you are locked out for 24 hours and must pay for the next attempt. After a second fail the lock-out is three days, and the next attempt is paid again.

Preparing, and what else the agency says

ACT Safe Plates Testing points to research linking the test to later crash risk, including evidence that drivers who failed it at least twice were more likely to crash than those who passed on the first attempt. After a fail it suggests practising the scenarios again, taking more supervised drives or booking a professional lesson before the next paid attempt. It describes the test as measuring a person's ability to detect and respond to potentially dangerous situations on the road, and asks for a stable internet connection before you start.