UK motorists: Only 18% ‘very confident’ they’d pass a theory test, as pass rates fall to lowest on record
Pass rates for the driving theory test have fallen from 65% down to 44% – the lowest in recorded history. So what's behind the drop, and how can we keep ourselves up to speed with the rules in the years that follow? We spoke to the managing director at AA and a road safety influencer to find out.
Transcript
00:00 We have been watching the theory test pass rate drop steadily. It is now at an all-time
00:07 low at just 44% of people are passing their theory test when they're taking it. It used
00:12 to be 65%, so that is quite a drop. And it's not just learners who are struggling with
00:19 this. The AA research showed that only 18% of experienced drivers were confident that
00:26 if they were to take their theory test today that they would be able to pass it. So there's
00:30 a real challenge there, primarily down to things like stopping distances and signs and
00:36 so on. And people just really need to be able to brush up their knowledge. As the cooler
00:39 months draw in, the weather worsens and with it comes trickier driving conditions. Darker
00:44 nights also mean the number of road traffic accidents spike during the wintertime, with
00:49 now more motorists than ever taking to British roads. However, recent research from AA Driving
00:55 School found drivers are less confident with keeping up with their motoring knowledge.
01:00 One in four people said that they sometimes encounter road signs that they do not know
01:03 the meaning of, as well as drivers underestimating the stopping distance for higher speeds. I
01:09 post a lot of short-form content, you know, 10, 20, 30 second range. It's punchy, it's
01:14 informative, it's very quick. People are scrolling, if they want some information, quick, I've
01:17 got a road safety fact for you right now. And they're like, oh, OK. It comes down to
01:19 there's a lot of fear, it's a lot of pressure. They've spent a lot of time and money at this
01:23 point to get to the theory test and all of a sudden they're sitting down, they have an
01:26 hour countdown clock and they've got to get it right. There's money being spent, it's
01:30 very serious, you know, they want to drive. And it's just, I think it's that pressure
01:33 that gets a lot of people. So shall we put you to the test then? What does this road
01:37 sign mean? 87% of people answered this correctly in a poll. It signals a with flow bus and
01:44 cycle lane. How about this one? A slight drop from the last one in AA's survey, 76% got
01:51 this one right. It means no motor vehicles, of course. My personal story is I did also
01:57 use an app to learn back in 2016. But what I didn't have on that was the hazard perception
02:01 test. So that was something I was very stressed going in on the days. I'm a bit, I have no
02:05 clue what it's going to look like. I know I have to click when there's a hazard, but
02:07 I've never practiced this before. There was YouTube videos, but you can't get information
02:11 or you know, I don't know if I'm doing it right. Even for seasoned drivers, you know,
02:14 it's useful, isn't it, to brush up that knowledge? Just if you've got a bit of time just going
02:18 through those multiple choice questions, I think, I think people would be quite surprised
02:21 at how rusty their knowledge may be. The highest UK pass rate is in Tongue in Scotland, with
02:27 56.5% of those taking their theory test there successfully. On the other hand, Hornsea in
02:32 Yorkshire had the lowest with only a 23.6% pass rate. Want to maximise your chances of
02:38 passing first time or brush up on your knowledge? Here's the advice. As I said, with all the
02:42 stress that comes from it, all the money and time you've put into the theory test to learn
02:46 how to drive on the day, if you have prepped, if you have taken it very seriously, this
02:50 is not just an exam you can sort of, "Oh yeah, I know some math, I could do that," whatever
02:54 whatever you're doing at school at the moment. This is a very serious test. It is that next
02:58 step. If you want to know how to drive, you want to become that independent adult, this
03:01 is a time to show that you can take that responsibility.