Almost half of learner drivers fail test

DRIVING instructors have called for a major reform of the provisional driving licence system after it emerged almost half of all learner drivers failed the official test last year.

The Driving Instructor Register of Ireland said figures on driving test results in 2002, published by the Department of Environment yesterday, highlight how most drivers here are unaware of traffic legislation.

Just 54% of the 149,000 learner drivers who sat the driving test last year obtained a pass a 2% drop in the success rate since 1997. The pass rate rose to 57% for people sitting their second or repeat test.

However, statistics contained in the Bulletin of Vehicle and Driver Statistics show that the percentage of provisional drivers on Irish roads has fallen from 24% to 17% over the same period. The actual number of learner drivers has fallen by 100,000 to 352,500 over the past five years.

"The whole system has developed dry rot," said DIRI spokesman Des Cummins.

"It is allowing people to drive for many years on a provisional licence without sitting a test. There is also a lack of garda manpower to properly enforce the restrictions on road use for L-plate drivers."

He added: "Other learner drivers only use driving schools to be shown the test route a day or two before the exam. The system is not geared towards the education of drivers as there is no co-ordination between instructors and testers."

Although the DIRI is not calling for the introduction of a requirement for learner drivers to undergo a minimum number of lessons before sitting the test, as exists in other countries, Mr Cummins said the Government should set itself a target pass rate of around 70%.

Contrary to the popular perception that young drivers present the greatest risk to road users, the statistics show learner drivers aged over 26 had a higher failure rate in the driving test last year than motorists aged 16-26.

Older drivers scored a pass rate of 51.4% but motorists aged 16-21 years achieved a 56.4% pass mark.

Another stereotype was also somewhat undermined when male drivers performed better than their female counterparts in the driving test. Men scored an overall pass rate of 55.5% in the test in 2002 compared to 53% for women.

The test centre to achieve the highest pass rate (65%) is in Shannon. Other centres to score a pass rate of over 62% include Letterkenny, Killarney, Buncrana, Sligo, Newcastle West and Birr.

The worst failure rates are found in Cavan, where just 47.3% of applicants passed the exam.

Other centres where more than half of all drivers failed their test are located in Finglas, Tallaght, Carlow, Dundalk, Wicklow and Nenagh.

The official statistics also show a total of 536,000 tests were carried out by the National Car Testing Service last year. They resulted in an overall pass rate of 94% of which 41% passed after defects discovered in the initial test had been rectified.

The bulletin also shows there are more vehicles on the road than ever. The total number rose by 5.4% in 2002 to 1.85 million vehicles of which 1.45 million are private cars.