Photo: Mark Direen, Pexels
Since 7 March 2022, most Tasmanian learners have had to pass an online Hazard Perception Test (HPT) before they can book the P1 driving assessment. The test is free and you can take it on a phone, tablet or computer. You need 13 out of 25 clips correct. This page covers who must sit it, who is exempt, when you can start and how the clips are scored.
Key facts
- Cost: free. Failed attempts can be retried straight away, as many times as you like.
- Format: 25 video clips. You need 13 correct to pass, and you must respond to all 25.
- Time: 45 minutes maximum. Most people take about 20, plus 5 to 10 minutes for instructions and practice questions.
- When: novice learners can start from three months before their earliest P1 test date.
- Validity: a pass lasts 12 months. If you don’t pass the P1 assessment in that time, you sit the HPT again.
- The booking system checks for a pass. You can’t book a P1 assessment until it records one.
Who needs to pass the Tasmanian HPT?
Anyone who must do a practical driving assessment before getting a Tasmanian licence, unless exempt. That includes:
- novice learners (and former L1 holders)
- non-novice learners (returning drivers whose full licence has been inactive for five years or more)
- interstate learners transferring to Tasmania who can’t prove they passed an HPT in their old state in the last 12 months
- overseas licence holders from non-recognised countries
- overseas licence holders under 25 from experienced driver countries.
The Registrar of Motor Vehicles can also ask other people to pass it.
Who does not need the HPT?
- L2 licence holders, under the December 2020 transition rules (see Tasmania L1 and L2 explained)
- anyone who had an active practical assessment booking made before 7 March 2022
- people transferring to a Tasmanian licence with dated evidence of an HPT pass in another Australian state or territory in the last 12 months (a booking confirmation is not enough)
- people sitting an assessment to remove a licence condition, such as automatic only, or an occupational therapy driving assessment
- anyone already holding a provisional or full licence.
There is no HPT requirement for motorcycle or heavy vehicle licences.
When can you sit the HPT in Tasmania?
Your earliest test date is printed on your learner licence card. It is 12 continuous months after the licence was issued, with no suspensions. You can sit the HPT from three months before that date. You don’t need your 80 hours finished first.
Non-novice learners and affected overseas licence holders can sit it straight after passing the driver knowledge test.
How the Tasmanian HPT works
- Log in with your learner licence number and date of birth. If you don’t yet have a learner licence, use your client ID.
- Do the optional practice questions. They show how the test behaves on your device.
- Watch each clip. Click “take action” at the moment you judge it safe to act, or when you need to act to avoid a hazard.
- If no action can safely be taken, let the clip play out. Taking no action can be the right answer.
- Each clip involves one of four actions: overtake, move off, turn right or slow down.
- After all 25 clips you get your score and coaching statements, such as “keeping a safe distance behind a braking or slowing vehicle”, which show the types of situation you found hardest.
You can’t review individual answers. The clips were developed by the University of Adelaide’s Centre for Automotive Safety Research with Austroads, based on the crashes that seriously injure or kill novice drivers.
Tips from the official guidance
- Use a desktop computer and mouse if you can, in a quiet room, with an up-to-date Chrome, Firefox or Edge browser.
- Portrait mode works on a phone, but hazards are harder to see.
- The test uses up to about 90 MB of data.
- If you drop out, you can rejoin where you left off while the 45 minutes are still running.
- Someone may explain the written situation text to you, but they can’t tell you when to act.
- The best preparation is real driving. Talk through hazards with your supervisor on every drive.
Common questions
How many questions are on the Tasmania HPT?
25 clips. You pass with 13 correct.
Can I do the Tasmanian HPT at Service Tasmania?
It is not set up on dedicated terminals like the knowledge test. Some Service Tasmania shops have public computers you can use, and you can also use libraries, community online access centres or schools outside class time.
What happens after I pass?
Your result is recorded on your client file automatically. You can then book your P1 assessment online, or at Service Tasmania for other assessment types.
Is there a practice HPT?
Yes, but only inside the real test once you have access. There is no separate standalone practice test.
Why do I get an error when I try to log in?
Novice learners can’t open the test until three months before their earliest test date. Check the date on your card and your login details.
Does the HPT have sound?
It plays traffic sounds, but they don’t help answer the clips, and questions are not read aloud.
Back to learning to drive in Tasmania. Related: learner rules and logbook hours and the P1 driving assessment.
Sources
- Department of State Growth, “Hazard Perception Test” (platesplus.tas.gov.au)
- Department of State Growth, “Hazard perception test FAQs” (platesplus.tas.gov.au)
- Department of State Growth, “Summary of novice car licensing pathway” (platesplus.tas.gov.au)
- Transport Services Tasmania, “Booking an assessment online (Government Assessor)” (transport.tas.gov.au)
- Transport Services Tasmania, “Driving assessments” (transport.tas.gov.au)