Testing times for drivers Issues Driving Tests

Even the eternal optimist needs to take a "glass is half empty" approach to passing the driving test. Only 55.1 per cent of people who take it, get it first time.

So what's the best way to avoid failing the driving test? According to Conor Faughnan, public affairs manager with the AA: "We would strongly recommend that from the start you go to a proper instructor who is a member of the Driving Instructor Register. People who take lessons from their mothers/brothers/fathers/sisters usually get to a stage where they are mechanically competent, apply for the test, get a date and try to squeeze a few lessons in before it. But only with professional instruction will they become technically proficient, and have adequate road safety awareness." To qualify for a first provisional licence, you must apply to sit a theory test either through your local motor taxation office, or by phone through ProMetric (1890 606106). The test costs €32 and comprises 40 multiple choice questions, of which at least 35 need to be answered correctly.

It can usually be prepared for by swotting up the Rules of the Road and Driving Theory Test handbooks available from leading bookshops. Once you receive a pass certificate, you send this to your motor tax office with €15.

Armed with a provisional licence and, quite probably, a massively expensive insurance cert, you can now take to the roads; you cannot travel without a fully licensed driver accompanying you during this period. Motorway driving is off-limits, and L plates must be displayed on the vehicle at all times.

This is where proper driving instruction comes in. The AA says it would like to see driving instructors registered on a statutory basis and their standards monitored. "We could then prescribe a curriculum for learning drivers of which the test would be an important component, but not the only one," says Conor Faughnan.

Attention to detail when driving is critical. The first time I got lessons I actually thought the instructor was joking the number of times he wanted me to look in the mirrors - despite my not inconsiderable vanity. Similarly you are expected to drive about at a snail's pace, which apparently coincides with the national speed limit in built-up areas.

If you don't do these things instinctively from very early on, you are most likely to fail your test. Good driving is very much about being aware of your place on the road and the presence of others. Soon the precautionary measures become second nature.

The AA advises at least eight driving lessons before sitting the test. As for the examiners, you could be forgiven for thinking that they appear to operate on the basic premise that all learner drivers are boy racer miscreants waiting to happen.

And if you look at the figures, they do have a point. In 2000 alone, 55 people under the age of 24 were killed in road accidents and, of that number, 50 were male.

On the day of the test it can be advisable to do a pre-test with your instructor if it's near the test centre. If it says 03/02 on your insurance disc, that doesn't mean you are insured until the end of March, 2002, but until the exact date during that month marked in small print on the disc. Double check everything.

There has been a recent push to include road safety and driving instruction in the schools' transition year syllabus. The National Safety Council of Ireland has developed an in-class theory-based teaching aid, Staying Alive, which was launched for second-level schools last September and is generating a lot of interest.

Clearly more Government funding would help such initiatives reach a wider audience, and potentially reduce the level of accidents among new drivers.

Finally, you could always indulge yourself in the urban myth that, if you sit your test in a sleepy rural town, you're far more likely to pass. For instance, if you apply in Shannon you have a quite extraordinary 74.2 per cent chance of passing - and that can hardly be described as a sleepy rural area. Are they conducting the test on runways down there? In Wicklow, however, beware. There's only a 47.3 per cent pass rate down there.