In the absence of any proper news – and when you consider the area in question, the lack of proper news isn’t all that surprising – This Is Cornwall is wetting its pants over the supposed “fact” that “the Westcountry has better L-driver pass rates.”
Every time some junior wannabe hack gets hold of the latest pass rates, it’s like they’ve never seen anything remotely like them before. If only they’d compare new data with old data, and understand that unless pass rates jump by 5% or more, and keep jumping in the same direction, there’s nothing to actually report.
In actual fact, pass rates for the Westcountry have increased by less than 1% since last year. Statistically, the national pass rate has been flat for the last three years, varying by about plus or minus 1% (statistically insignificant). So, the Westcountry’s pass rate has also stayed flat. Nothing has actually changed, in spite of the ravings of This Is Cornwall’s junior staff!
What is really funny, though, is this quote taken directly from This Is Cornwall’s article:
Christine [surname removed in this copy], of [name removed in this copy] School of Motoring in Paignton, said higher pass rates in the Westcountry could be down to a "better class of instructor".
She said: "The test is becoming much harder to pass, which should ultimately lead to safer drivers on the roads."
What nonsense. Why do people make these ridiculous comments and allow their names to be tagged on to them?
If you look at maps of the area in question there is one motorway which never quite gets there, and literally a handful of A roads in the whole of the two counties. It is out in the sticks and is affluent, and it is always these kinds of places – where electricity hasn’t quite reached, and where livestock can still be voted in as Mayor – which usually have the highest figures. Urban conurbations and places with high immigrant populations – all the normal places, really – often have lower ones.
I hardly think Fate, in Her infinite wisdom, would have decreed that all the best instructors should be down in Devon and Cornwall, where there are more sheep than humans. She would more than likely have distributed them evenly around the country. Higher – and only slightly higher at that – than national average figures are almost certainly down to something a little more fundamental.
It is hardly surprising that the area has slightly higher than national average figures – i.e. it isn’t as challenging and it doesn’t have “national average” population demographics.