Nearly 100 people crashed during their driving test in the past two years

Ken Foxe

Nearly 100 people have crashed or been involved in a collision during their driving test over the past two years.

In what seems like the most reliable way to fail the exam, 52 people had a prang while on their test route in the first ten months of this year.

Of those accidents, nine of them resulted in personal injuries, according to the Road Safety Authority (RSA).

Throughout last year, there were 46 cases where a person was involved in a crash during their driving test.

Those accidents led to personal injuries in fourteen different cases, the RSA said.

The Road Safety Authority said the 98 total accidents since the beginning of 2023 had not led to any claims for compensation or legal bills.

In an information note, they said that all test candidates were fully insured, and any claim was managed through their third-party motor insurance.

They said even if a member of staff of the RSA was injured, it was still dealt with like any normal road accident.

The RSA added that no costs had been incurred in the repair of cars damaged during tests, and this was also the responsibility of the driver.

They said there was a solitary case over the past two years where a member of staff had been involved in an accident when working.

This had resulted in a repair bill of €3,478 but no legal or compensation costs were incurred by the authority in 2023 or 2024.

A spokesman said: “While the RSA would prefer that there be no collisions during a driving test, or indeed at any other time, unfortunately, it is the case that a collision can occur.

“Given the overall volume of learner drivers that progress through the driving test annually, the volume of collisions while on test are quite low comparatively.”

He added that a total of 196,886 driving tests had taken place in 2023, of which only 46 had resulted in an accident.