Driving test pass rates plummet in Co Waterford

Less than half of attempted driving tests have been successful this year with pass rates plummeting to 42.6% in Waterford and 45.8% in Dungarvan.

Despite wait times having dropped to just 15 weeks, their lowest since October 2022, learner drivers are struggling to pass the driving tests, according to RSA data released to Waterford News & Star under the Freedom of Information Act.

Since 2018, driving test pass rates in the Dungarvan test centre have reliably varied between 52% and 55%, hitting their peak in 2022 with 54.9% of tests being passed. This figure has plummeted to just 45.8% so far in 2024, dropping below 50% for the first time.

Similarly in Waterford, the current pass rate sees nearly 60% of driving tests failed in the Six Cross Roads business park testing centre. Driving test pass rates have dropped nearly 14% in the last four years in Waterford City, falling from 56.5% in 2020 to just 42.6% so far this year.

The current price of a driving test is €85, with the mandatory 12 driving lessons often costing as much as €545. Despite the rise in price of getting to the driver tests, the number of applications for driving tests shot up during the pandemic.

Driving test centres were unable to cope with the demand, as shown by data from the CSO. In Dungarvan, the waiting time for a driving test reached its summit in October 2023 when new driving test applicants were met by a 38-week (almost nine-month) waiting list. The Waterford test centre reached its peak two months earlier in August with a 36-week waiting list.

The RSA has successfully reduced waiting lists to 15 weeks in each of the two testing centres in County Waterford. Driving testers who spoke to Waterford News & Star said the long waiting lists were the main reason for the falling test pass rates, with applicants finding it too expensive or too difficult to practice enough to achieve and retain the driving standards necessary to pass for nearly nine months.