Head west for the best chance in driving test

By Joe Leogue

Want to pass your driving test? Head west and avoid Dublin.

An analysis of figures over a 10-year period shows some driving test centres in the west consistently rank above average national pass rates, while areas in the Dublin region suffer the lowest.

The Irish Examiner examined the pass rates of the Road Safety Authority’s (RSA) driving test centres from 2008 up to and including last year and found some consistent patterns among the 50 or so centres that issued results over the past decade.

The test centre in Clifden, Co Galway, is the only such facility to appear in the top 10 highest pass rates in every year for the past 10 years.

It posted a pass rate of 64.46% last year, compared with a national average of 52.9%. The lowest pass rate it recorded in the past 10 years was in 2009, when 59.5% of people taking the test in Clifden passed, compared with a national average of 51.8% that year.

Centres in the west of Ireland consistently appear among the centres with the highest pass rates. Sligo, Roscommon, and Ennis have appeared in the top 10 in eight of the last 10 years.

Though not appearing in the top 10 for highest pass rates as frequently as Clifden, Sligo recorded the highest average pass rate over the 2008-2017 period.

The 10-year average of 67.7% in Sligo was closely followed by Ennis (67.3%), and Clifden (64%).

This compared with the national average of 53.9%.

At the other end of the scale, centres in and around the capital are consistently appearing in the lowest 10 pass rates every year.

The centres in Finglas and Tallaght have been in among the lowest pass rates every year since 2009.

Naas, Raheny, and Rathgar have appeared in the bottom 10 pass rates eight times since 2008. Between them, Raheny and Rathgar have finished bottom of the pass rates list in five of the last 10 years. The Rathgar centre, which closed in 2017, had the lowest average pass rate over the decade.

Its average pass rate of just over 41% fell short of the national average of almost 54%.