AQW 8230/11-15


Mr Samuel Gardiner MBE
Ulster Unionist Party
Upper Bann


Tabled Date: 14/02/2012
Answered On Date: 14/03/2012
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister of the Environment how many drivers have passed the Advanced Driving Test in each of the last three years; and how this figure, as a percentage, compares with other UK regions.


Answer:
The Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA) carries out statutory driving tests in Northern Ireland on behalf of the Department under the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 and the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996.
Advanced driving tests both in NI and in Britain are carried out by private organisations. The main providers are the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA), and they have provided the tabulated statistics below for advanced driving tests.
Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM)
Category
2008-2009
2009-2010
2010-2011
Tests
Pass Rate
No of Passes
Tests
Pass Rate
No of Passes
Tests
Pass Rate
No of Passes
NI
Car
201
98%
199
114
96%
109
81
98%
79
Motorcycle
16
88%
14
32
97%
31
34
100%
34
Britain
Car
8376
92%
7706
4314
89%
3839
3004
86%
2583
Motorcycle
2027
87%
1763
1874
86%
1612
1785
86%
1535
Source: Institute of Advanced Motorists (not Official Statistics)
Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA)
Category
2008-2009
2009-2010
2010-2011
Tests
Pass Rate
No of Passes
Tests
Pass Rate
No of Passes
Tests
Pass Rate
No of Passes
NI
Car
101
100%
101
88
100%
88
70
100%
70
Motorcycle
8
100%
8
19
100%
19
15
100%
15
England
Car
1850
98.7%
1826
1844
98.5%
1816
2097
99%
2076
Motorcycle
433
98.6%
427
441
99%
437
572
99%
566
Scotland
Car
144
100%
144
126
99.2%
125
170
99.4%
169
Motorcycle
26
100%
26
37
100%
37
20
100%
20
Wales
Car
74
100%
74
54
98.2%
53
73
100%
73
Motorcycle
28
100%
28
50
100%
50
53
94.3%
50
Source: Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (not Official Statistics)
The statistics provided by the IAM and RoSPA indicate that over the three years in question 20,484 drivers passed the advanced driving test in Britain compared with 646 in NI while for motorcyclists 6,551 riders passed the advanced test in Britain and 121 in NI.
The numbers of advanced tests taken with the IAM and RoSPA in this period totalled, for cars, 22,126 in Britain and 655 in NI, and, for motorcycles, 7,346 in Britain and 124 in NI. For car tests, the figures for both Britain and NI represented 0.4% of the numbers of ordinary practical driving tests taken by motorists in the same period, while advanced motorcycle tests represented 3.3% of the number of ordinary motorcycle tests taken in Britain and 2.1% of the number taken in NI.