No ‘failure quota’ says LTSA

The LTSA says that there is no substance to claims that driver licence testing officers are required to achieve ‘failure quotas’ when testing older drivers.

Director of Land Transport Safety Reg Barrett said today that drivers pass or fail the test according to their performance against strict road safety criteria as set out in the driver testing guidelines.

“There is no other measure used. There is certainly no requirement for testing officers to pass or fail drivers according to a quota,” Mr Barrett said.

The claims regarding ‘failure quotas’ were made by the Automobile Association at a parliamentary select committee hearing yesterday.

“The LTSA regularly monitors all driver testing and the pass rate of testing officers is one factor of the auditing programme we use. In this way we seek to maintain the standards and consistency of driver testing across the whole country.

“This programme is generally used to highlight occasions where a testing officer is failing too many drivers. In such instances we work with the testing agency to ensure that the test decisions are being made according to the guidelines.

“The LTSA recognises that there are concerns about the older driver test and we are working to improve the information made available to drivers on how to prepare for the test,” Mr Barrett said.

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