The examiner works through the car test in a fixed order: eyesight check, then the safety questions, then the drive. The tell me question comes at the start, before the candidate starts driving, and asks the pupil to explain how a check would be carried out. The show me question comes later, on the move, and asks them to operate something while driving. One of each is asked in the category B test. A wrong answer to one question or to both costs a single driving fault, so the worst the pair can cost is one of the 15 driving faults a candidate is allowed. The separate risk sits with the show me question: if the driving becomes dangerous or potentially dangerous while the pupil reaches for a control, the test is failed outright.
DVSA publishes the full bank. The 14 tell me questions cover brakes, tyre pressures, tread depth and tyre condition, head restraint adjustment, head and tail lights, brake lights, direction indicators, the anti-lock braking system warning, power-assisted steering, rear fog lights and main beam, plus three under-bonnet checks: engine oil, engine coolant and hydraulic brake fluid. The 7 show me questions cover the front and rear washers, dipped headlights, the rear demister, demisting the front windscreen, the horn and the side window. Every show me item is an in-car control, which is why it can be asked while the pupil is driving. This set replaced the previous one on 4 December 2017 and the published list still carries that date.
Instructors meet the format again on their own test. The ADI part 2 test of driving ability includes five vehicle safety questions: three tell me before driving and two show me on the move. Each incorrect answer is a driving fault. Answering all five incorrectly is a serious fault and a fail, as is losing control of the car while answering a show me question. Other licence categories have their own published banks: category A riders answer safety questions in module 2 of the motorcycle test, and lorry and bus tests in categories C and D draw on a separate list.
If safety questions are a recurring source of avoidable faults in your school, the software question is whether the progress record is structured enough to report on. Look for a pupil progress or lesson-plan area built from individual, tickable syllabus items, so "covered" and "assessed as competent" can be logged per question and read by any instructor who picks the pupil up. Check that you can add or edit those items yourself when DVSA revises the list, without waiting on a supplier release, and that the same mechanism can hold separate sets if you train riders or vocational categories. Check whether the vehicle a pupil trains in is recorded. Ask whether a booked test date in the diary can trigger a pre-test checklist or reminder a set number of days out, and whether the full progress record exports or transfers cleanly when a pupil changes instructor or a franchisee leaves. Finally, check whether a pupil app shows the same list with the questions already covered.
All rules and figures were checked against DVSA guidance on GOV.UK on 6 September 2026 (the car and ADI part 2 vehicle safety question lists, "what happens during the test" and the driving test faults and result pages); the car question list itself carries a last-updated date of 4 December 2017, and the position for Northern Ireland, where tests are run by the DVA rather than DVSA, is outside the scope of these sources.