Driving Test Failures Are Wrong
James Jones | 04.04.2008 00:08
The DSA have failed thousands of people taking the driving theory test when in fact they passed.Most people who study for the driving theory test study the latest edition of the highway code. It is published by J Jones and O-Wyn Jones trading as "Select All" on behalf of the driving standards agency,dept of transport and HMSO.They are the official government departments.So you would expect that the publication is the current rules of the road. But the driving standards agency also have a website.
http://www.dsa.gov.uk/
This is the same department and again you would assume that the content of the site is the current rules of the road.They have an online theory practice test. A free version and a paid for more detailed test. This test is the official driving theory test. The same one you will get when you book and pay for the real thing. You now have to get 43 questions out of 50 right to pass. If you get 42 right you fail. If you have been studying the latest highway code and during your test you are asked the stopping distance at 40 miles per hour and you give the highway code answer you will be marked wrong. If you studied online using the official dsa test you will be marked right. There are two different answers to this question from the same government department.That is not the only question that gives two different answers.But I will leave that for others to research.Since Sept 2007 when the new 50 question test came in the fail rate has increased to 24%. One figure I have is 290,000 fails but I only mention that in passing to highlight the kind of payouts the gov may have to cough up to make this right. The DSA have ignored all attempts to answer this and the dept for transport website seems to have disappeared completely
http://www.dft.gov.uk/
Just how many people who have been marked as failed since the driving theory test came out is not known but It must be near to half a million.What percentage of them that got one or two questions wrong that were right is anyones guess. But I would suspect it runs into many millions of pounds.
http://www.dsa.gov.uk/ This is the same department and again you would assume that the content of the site is the current rules of the road.They have an online theory practice test. A free version and a paid for more detailed test. This test is the official driving theory test. The same one you will get when you book and pay for the real thing. You now have to get 43 questions out of 50 right to pass. If you get 42 right you fail. If you have been studying the latest highway code and during your test you are asked the stopping distance at 40 miles per hour and you give the highway code answer you will be marked wrong. If you studied online using the official dsa test you will be marked right. There are two different answers to this question from the same government department.That is not the only question that gives two different answers.But I will leave that for others to research.Since Sept 2007 when the new 50 question test came in the fail rate has increased to 24%. One figure I have is 290,000 fails but I only mention that in passing to highlight the kind of payouts the gov may have to cough up to make this right. The DSA have ignored all attempts to answer this and the dept for transport website seems to have disappeared completely
http://www.dft.gov.uk/ Just how many people who have been marked as failed since the driving theory test came out is not known but It must be near to half a million.What percentage of them that got one or two questions wrong that were right is anyones guess. But I would suspect it runs into many millions of pounds.
James Jones
