16-08-2022
When the time comes to take your driving test, you will often be given a selection of test centres close by that you can choose to start your test at.
Depending on your location, you may have several city centre or town based driving test centres, so it will be down to your familiarisation with the location and whether you prefer driving in a city or a town environment.
In this article, we will be analysing those taking their 1st driving test during the period 2019-2020 (due to reduction in tests conducted during the pandemic).
Inveraray, located in Argyll and Bute in Scotland has taken the top spot for the highest pass rate for males taking their first driving test at 88%. Granted, the numbers of tests were not huge, with only 25 males taking their first test and 22 of those receiving a pass. One of those 22 passed with zero faults.
In second position was another town in Scotland; Pitlochry, which is located in Perthshire. The pass rate was 86.6% with 30 tests conducted and 26 passes. Four of those passed with zero faults.
Inveraray also took top spot for the highest rate of females passing their driving test first time with a whopping 90.9% pass rate. Out of the 22 people that took their first test between 2019 and 2020, 20 passed 1st time and one even passed first time with zero faults.
In second position was also Pitlochry in Scotland with a pass rate of 83.7%, slightly lower than the male pass rate. With 49 females taking their 1st test, 41 passed, with 12 of those passing with zero faults.
We had to look at this in terms of a percentage, or it would be severely skewed when you have a location that had a lot more driving tests conducted than others.
For men, the highest percentage of zero-fault passes occurred in Brodick (Isle of Arran) with 22% of those passing their test passing with zero faults.
When it comes to females, Pitlochry had the highest rate of zero-fault passes with a 29% pass rate.
Erith (London) is statistically the worst place for males to take their driving test according to the pass rate which is only 33.5%. Erith is a more built-up area than Inveraray where the highest pass rates occur, which will have an effect on the pass rate. Built up areas will have more major roads to navigate, additional road infrastructure such as roundabouts and ring roads as well as more hazards such as pedestrians.
In second place is Bodmin, which is not far behind Erith with a 35.2% pass rate for males taking their 1st driving test.
Statistically the worst place for females to take their driving test is Bradford (Manningham), which has a measly 24.1% pass rate for those taking their 1st driving test. Close to the city centre, Manningham is a built-up city environment that has lots of residential areas, multi lane roads and a host of speed cameras to navigate through. There are also plenty of hazards to pay extra attention to that wouldn’t necessarily be in less built-up areas.
So that’s it for this report – if you are ready to take your driving test, you should look at the available test centres in your area and familiarise yourself with the location to see if you would feel confident taking your driving test there.
Data taken from https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/car-driving-test-data-by-test-centre