Why so many young people fail the driving test
Created: 06/01/2023 14:24
By: Stella Henrich
More and more learner drivers fail the driver's license test.
Driving instructors complain that they increasingly lose the feeling for traffic.
Why is that?
Munich ‒ At first glance, you hardly want to believe such a sentence.
The "natural affinity to traffic" decreases in young people.
This is the result of the driving instructors' association in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Young people today have a completely different perception than 20 years ago, says Kurt Bartels, head of the association, in the
world
.
Young people are now paying more attention to cell phones than to road traffic.
In large cities with a lot of traffic, this leads to an increased failure rate in the driver's license test.
As far as the head of the association and the driving instructor Kurt Bartels.
It is true that the rate continues to rise.
For years now, more and more learner drivers have been failing the test.
According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), the proportion of
failed theory tests
has risen from 29 percent in 2013 to 37 percent in 2021.
In the
practical exams
for car class B, the failure rate rose from 37 percent in 2013 to 43 percent in 2021.
However, the reasons for this are complex, according to the opinion of the TÜV association.
On the one hand, the learner drivers are poorly prepared for the test, on the other hand, road traffic is becoming more and more complex, explains Joachim Bühler, Managing Director of the TÜV, the reasons for the traffic club ADAC.
In addition, traffic education in schools ends after the fourth grade, which the head of the association considers a mistake.
Did you know?
Traffic signs are also part of the official driving test.
(Iconic image) © Sascha Steinach/imago
More and more failures in the driver's license test: Parents persuade their children to register at the driving school
Driving instructor Rolf Wernicke from Hesse is also familiar with the problem with cell phones.
The first thing he tells his students to do is leave their cell phones in their pockets and watch out for traffic.
In his opinion, driving a car is no longer as important as it was 30 years ago.
Parents often persuaded their children to enroll in driving school, according to Wernicke in the
world
.
When learning, the young people are then correspondingly unmotivated.
Wernicke also noticed that his learner drivers had less of a connection to road traffic.
"Many do not know the traffic rules in their immediate living environment, such as the speed limit on their street," criticizes Wernicke.
If you have developed little feeling for road traffic in the years before driving school, then of course you are initially overwhelmed behind the wheel.
Driving instructor Rolf Wernicke in the world
Smartphones stress children
View photo gallery
More and more failures in the driver's license test: traffic psychologist explains the problem in more depth
One might think that anyone who spends a lot of time on their mobile phone or game console has a mature ability to react and certainly does not attract attention due to a lack of feeling in traffic.
Whether it's
City Car Driving
, Euro Truck Simulator or Assetto Corsa - the three games enable students and novice drivers to learn about traffic, how a car is steered and the rules of road traffic using everyday traffic situations on the screen.
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Driver learners today have to reckon with costs of up to 4,000 euros for a driver's license.
A lot of money that no young person should just have on the high edge.
It is all the more surprising that the young learner drivers do not prepare well enough for the test.
For traffic psychologist Wolfgang Fastenmeier, the problem is obviously deeper.
In his experience, there is a less pronounced “ability for selective traffic competence” in young people.
This means that they recognize the correct and necessary information in a traffic situation with a delay.
In addition, the psychomotor skills of the learner drivers had decreased, according to Fastenmeier in the world.
But you need situational awareness for yourself and others - something like a forward-looking view.
More and more failures in the driver's license test:
Despite these warning signals and the high cost of the rag, the number of practical driving tests carried out in Germany rose by 14 percent to 1.31 million
in the first three quarters of 2022 compared to the same period last year, according to TÜV
.
A total of around 58 million people in this country have a driver's license.
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