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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 8 May 1996

Vol. 465 No. 1

Written Answers. - Driving Tests.

Michael Finucane

Ceist:

117 Mr. Finucane asked the Minister for the Environment the number of driving test inspectors assigned to a location (details supplied) in County Limerick: the age profile of persons who failed their driving tests; the most common driving fault of those taking the test in view of the high failure rate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9239/96]

Driving tests in the south-west region, which includes the location in question, are conducted by a corps of 14 driver testers.

The breakdown by age group for the location concerned of persons who failed their test for the year ended 31 December 1995 was as follows:——

Age Group

Failure Rate

(%)

16-21

40.7

22-25

44.4

26 and over

46.5

Overall

44.1

Generally, the most common faults resulting in test failure are inadequate observation; incorrect position on roads; inadequate, or lack of, use of mirrors and signals; inadequate reaction to hazards, inadequate progress; and incorrect use of vehicle controls.

Michael Finucane

Ceist:

118 Mr. Finucane asked the Minister for the Environment the failure rate for driving tests for each driving test centre in the country in each of the months from January to March 1996; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9240/96]

The information requested is given in the following table. In test centres where there is a low level of testing, failure rates over a relatively short time span may not be representative of the true overall position in relation to these centres. Supervisory testers continuously monitor the work of driver testers in order to ensure the application of common test standards throughout the country and to establish underlying causes of significant and persistent deviation of failure rates from the national average.

Test Centre

January

February

March

%

%

%

Athlone

30.5

50.8

42.1

Ballina

36.1

31.3

55.3

Birr

33.8

52.4

44.8

Buncrana

38.8

28.6

37.6

Carlow

40.1

53.0

47.1

Carrick-on-Shannon

33.3

43.5

46.7

Castlebar

39.1

39.9

33.3

Cavan

36.4

37.5

44.7

Churchtown/Rathgar

47.2

49.8

47.0

Clifden

50.0

47.4

36.1

Clonmel

42.5

46.7

45.3

Cork

37.5

34.8

38.3

Donegal

43.4

56.8

35.6

Dundalk

47.1

47.0

48.1

Dungarvan

39.1

48.0

49.5

Ennis

44.8

36.4

39.6

Finglas

46.8

49.0

47.8

Galway

41.0

41.2

44.2

Gorey

42.7

43.4

51.6

Kilkenny

36.3

45.9

40.8

Killarney

44.2

46.5

38.7

Kilrush

40.0

47.4

Letterkenny

36.1

42.1

43.1

Limerick

51.5

31.8

40.9

Longford

60.0

49.5

59.3

Loughrea

37.3

35.1

38.8

Mallow

32.3

38.9

36.1

Monaghan

28.8

29.5

45.3

Mullingar

39.2

48.8

31.6

Naas

44.6

41.8

45.6

Navan

47.0

42.9

41.3

Nenagh

50.0

42.3

50.0

Newcastle West

38.2

43.1

41.1

Portlaoise

50.0

50.0

52.6

Roscommon

44.2

50.4

31.4

Shannon

33.3

44.1

31.6

Skibbereen

30.9

29.9

23.3

Sligo

45.7

37.1

37.0

Thurles

38.9

47.2

50.7

Tipperary

57.4

56.8

54.3

Tralee

42.3

47.7

43.1

Tuam

49.4

52.8

Tullamore

42.0

44.2

37.5

Waterford

44.3

48.5

47.3

Wexford

31.0

42.2

43.4

Wicklow

41.1

48.3

46.2

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