All learner drivers dream of sailing through their test first time with a ‘clean sheet’. Not a single ‘minor’ should mark their perfect skills as a motorist. Well, that’s the perception that a lot of young drivers in particular have, so it comes as a big shock when they fail that first time. Better luck next time, as they say.
But are drivers who pass their test the second time really then destined to become better drivers than their first-time lucky counterparts? According to instructors in Dundee, that’s open to debate. New figures released by the DVSA have shown that some novice drivers in the town needed multiple attempts to get through their test. One unfortunate learner took 11 attempts before he finally passed his practical test, spending nearly £2,000 on lessons and test fees. And he wasn’t a young driver, either, but a more mature driver in his 30s.
So it’s clear that age is no definer as to how easy a driver will find it to pass their test. And theory tests seem to have the same effect on some drivers too, with one learner taking 19 attempts to get through the exam.
Instructors think that the ‘fear factor’ plays an important part in whether a driver gets through the process easily – and it’s older drivers who seem to have more of a problem when it comes to a lack of confidence behind the wheel. Jim Matthews, an instructor in Dundee, says it’s older drivers who show their more nervous side when they start learning: “It gets a good deal harder when you get older to pass first time because older people are a lot more nervous. Things like ‘what if that person crosses the road in front of me’ and things like that go through their minds. The young ones just step in the car and get on with it — they have no fear.”
Slow and steady, or the confidence of youth?
Some instructors would say that a healthy concern for the well-being of others makes for a better driver later on, while the brashness and over-confidence of youth has time and again been cited as one of the biggest factors in road traffic accidents involving younger drivers.
Instructors have to take a huge range of variables into account when teaching novice drivers, and no two pupils are the same. Different people learn in different ways and at varying rates, and most instructors would say that age is not really a factor in how quickly someone will pass their test or how many lessons they will need. It is all down to the individual, and the skill of the driving instructor. Insurance premiums for older drivers are lower for a good reason, and that’s precisely because of that enhanced level of caution on the road, whether they’re new drivers or have been on the road for years.
However, getting your experience started at a young age will mean that once you do hit that magic 25, your insurance premiums will plummet not just because you’ve ‘come of age’ in the eyes of the insurance providers, but because you’ll have had a good few years to hone your skills as a driver too. So driving instructors encourage new drivers to start their motoring life as early as possible, so that they can get those all-important miles under their belt.