Legislation that establishes new rules for obtaining the CNH facilitates driving test with new scoring criteria
The CNH do Brasil project, along with its new standards, is already a reality. The updated dynamics of obtaining the National Driver’s License (CNH) has a new application to get the license and carry the document, as well as new rules for the Detran test.
These changes were officially published by the National Traffic Council (Contran) in Resolution No. 1,020, of December 1, 2025. In addition to promoting the free and online theoretical course, the regularization of autonomous instructors and the end of the mandatory nature of driving schools, among other changes, the text also provides for a new list of criteria for the driving test.
SEE ALSO:
Especially from the perspective of professionals in the area, the rules have been made too flexible, which can put at risk the training of drivers and road safety in the future. For Roberta Torres, a specialist in traffic education with more than 24 years of studies in the area, the measure is not focused on the training process.
According to the scholar, “the discussion is totally focused on price and a false idea of ‘debureaucratization’. The only thing they are trying to exclude is the mandatory learning part.”
The former Resolution 789 of June 2020 provided for the following evaluation process for the CNH practical test:
Article 18. The candidate will be evaluated in the Vehicle Driving Test according to the negative score for faults committed during all stages of the exam, assigning the following score:
– An eliminatory fault: failure;
– A serious fault: three negative points;
– One average fault: two negative points;
– A slight foul: a negative point.”
Therefore, the candidate who committed an eliminatory fault or whose sum of negative points exceeds three was considered to have failed. Thus, to obtain approval, the person can only commit one serious infraction, three light infractions or one medium and one light.
Article 19 of the resolution also lists which are the valid absences for categories B, C, D and E; and in what degrees of severity they fall:
Eliminatory Faults: advancing a traffic light or mandatory stop; advance on the curb; not placing the vehicle in the marked area, in a maximum of three attempts, within the established time; advance on the demarcated marking; driving the wrong way; advance the preferential route; etc.
Serious Faults: disobeying road signs or traffic agents; not observing the rules of overtaking or changing direction; not giving way to pedestrians who are crossing the road; keep the vehicle door open or semi-open during the course of the race; not wearing the seat belt properly; etc.
Medium Faults: execute the course of the test without the handbrake being entirely free; traveling at an inappropriate speed for the conditions of the place; interrupt the operation of the engine, without just reason; make an incorrect conversion; using a horn unnecessarily or in a prohibited place; disengage the vehicle on slopes; etc.
Minor Faults: causing irregular movements in the vehicle, for no reason; not adjusting the rearview mirrors properly; rest the foot on the clutch pedal with the vehicle in gear and moving; starting the vehicle with the traction gear on; etc.
A few months ago , the Secretary of Traffic categorically stated to AutoPapo that the CNH without driving school project would not change the practical tests. However, the Detran test was changed by the new rules of the CNH do Brasil.
The candidate will start the test with zero points and, as he commits faults, he will have points added for each traffic violation he commits. To be approved, the aspiring driver must have a maximum score of 10 points.
Each irregularity will be worth one point, which must be multiplied by the weight of the seriousness of the infraction. In practice, the score is equivalent to the weight of the absence, which can range from one to six:
Thus, now the candidate can lose ten points and still be approved, while the previous legislation established only three errors. He may commit a very serious fault and a serious fault (or two medium) and will not fail.
In practice, this means that he will be able to do all this in the Detran test and still be approved:
About this flexibility in the evaluation of the exam, Roberta Torres asks: “what kind of driver will be the candidate who commits very serious infractions and is still approved? What kind of message does this send to the population?”
For her:
This draft is an aberration with no pedagogical foundation and no responsibility for traffic safety. We are going in the opposite direction of what we agreed for the Decade of Action for Road Safety and the commitment to reduce the number of traffic deaths and accidents by 50% by 2030.”
In addition, the failed candidate will be able to make new assessments, without limitation of attempts, until approval, and the second attempt can be scheduled without charging additional fees.
