The pass rate for Western Australia's practical driving assessment has dropped sharply to 43% this year, down from 56% in 2010, despite learner drivers now completing more supervised hours than ever before. The decline follows 2017 changes that increased the minimum supervised driving hours from 25 to 50 before a test can be taken.
High school student Cormac Taylor, 17, passed on his fourth attempt, estimating the process cost thousands of dollars in test fees and lessons. Driving instructor Martin Collis said it was common for students to fail twice, with some failing up to nine times, leading to frustration over extra costs. He noted that some learners travel to certain centres perceived as easier to pass.
Liberal MP Peter Katsambanis, who chaired a parliamentary committee on licensing difficulties, described the system as 'broken'. He argued that requiring more hours should lead to higher pass rates, not lower, and that the system places enormous pressure on young people and their families, potentially denying them licences needed for work or study.
However, the Department of Transport's acting general manager Joan Brierley pointed to an 80% drop in serious crashes involving P-plate drivers since 2008, from 376 killed or seriously injured to 52 in 2017. She said the department measures success by road safety, not pass rates, and is working to improve consistency across testing centres using new iAssess tablets that record test interactions.
The parliamentary committee also found significant variations in pass rates between testing locations, suggesting inconsistent assessment standards. Mr Katsambanis called for a level playing field, but Ms Brierley attributed differences to the demographics of test-takers, noting that centres with many recent immigrants tend to have higher failure rates due to bad driving habits from overseas.
