This story in the newsfeeds is the result of a Daily Mail freedom of information (FOI) request. For anyone who doesn’t know, an FOI request results in a bunch of numbers that Daily Mail editorial staff don’t understand, which are then published for a readership that understands them even less. That readership includes many other driving instructors, judging by the indignation I am hearing from various places.
The story starts by stating that a female instructor in West Yorkshire has a 15% pass rate over a three-year period. One of her pupils has failed 27 times. Sorry, a “staggering” 27 times, in Mail hack parlance.
The article then states that she is working in an area which has previously been shown to have the “worst learner drivers in the UK”. It adds that three other instructors from the area are among the top 12 worst in Britain. It mentions a male instructor in the region with a 23% pass rate, and two females who have each taught pupils who have failed 17 and 19 times respectively.
Continuing on it’s tangled path, it then adds that earlier this year Heckmondwike – in West Yorkshire – was shown to have five of the worst learners in the country (all female). One of these took the test 34 times, and two others took it 32 times. The remaining two took their tests 29 times. However, four other West Yorkshire residents were also among the top 20 worst learners. A male learner took 30 tests, while three women took 30, 31, and 32 tests respectively.
It isn’t clear what point the Daily Mail is trying to make, as it leaps from one set of figures to another. It even finishes the article by referring to a Hampshire instructor with a 17% pass rate, and a Mancunian one who has a pupil who has failed 18 times.
The DSA quite clearly states in the story:
The pass rate of a driving instructor is no reflection of their teaching standard.
‘Instructors may not have trained the candidate but only presented them for the test. Others focus on training candidates who have difficulty in learning to drive.
The Mail has skipped over this. As usual, most Mail-reading driving instructors have not even seen it through the red mist that descended after reading the headline.
Since I have been doing this job I have noticed that people from certain groups show a strong tendency to want to go for their driving tests when – certainly in my opinion – they haven’t a cat in hell’s chance of passing. Even when they cannot complete a single manoeuvre, or drive unaided, they still want to “have a try”. I’ve had my fingers burnt in the past and, to be completely honest, I have too much pride in my pass rate these days just to keep hiring out my car to people who think they might get lucky. If that results in them going elsewhere – and it usually does – then so be it.
The locale being referred to in the article has a high immigrant or non-UK national population. In my experience this is precisely the demographic which throws up these “wanna try” learners. A lot of them will keep going to tests in their own cars, but there is a significant fringe group who are prepared to book a handful of lessons with an instructor in order to take the test in the instructor’s car. It stands to reason that if people like me won’t take them on (or who let them go when it becomes apparent what they’re after), there will be others who snap them up. It is also quite likely that instructors from certain other demographics (i.e. the male/female one) will be less forceful when it comes to saying “no”. None of these are absolutes – they’re just general tendencies. My guess is that the FOI numbers here are heavily influenced by all of this: that you have several female instructors who are mopping up all of the “wanna try” learners. Financially, it must be very good for them. If the DSA is happy, knowing the factors involved, what’s the problem?
You often hear the “safe driving for life” mantra – from instructors and the DSA – but it is a very grey area. I remember one time agreeing to take a girl to test before her theory test expired, thinking that I could get her up to the required standard in the time we had. Unfortunately, she turned out to have a real issue with some aspects of driving (basically, her brain exploded like a pan of popcorn at the slightest provocation and she did bizarre things as a result). After she failed her test I apologised to the examiner, and he simply replied “she obviously wasn’t test ready”. In one way he was absolutely right, but in another he was completely wrong. But his comment haunts me to this day.
On the other hand, I had a pupil recently who was a very slow learner. If he were to be assessed as a child now, I’m sure he’d be classed as special needs, but he was in his 20s. When he went to test I was worried he might do something unpredictable on the one hand, but I knew he was capable of passing on the other – because he could do everything; it was whether or not he could do it all at the same time which was in question. In some respects he was similar to the girl I mentioned above. Well, he did do it right, and he passed.
Learning to drive just isn’t as simple as going from zero-to-hero for everyone. Some people will have problems with driving all their lives – and there is a lot of them out there. Until someone somewhere says they shouldn’t be driving, people like me will have to continue to take them to test after training them as best we can. For me, that’s not the same thing as just taking people to test who haven’t been trained at all.
Well done to James, who passed first time today with just 3 driver faults. A few weeks ago his need to pass went from “before summer” to “by February 14th” as a result of some upcoming interviews. Part of me hates these sorts of deadlines, but the other part enjoys them (it depends on the pupil, though).