Sharp fall in driving tests

Not unexpectedly, given this fall, reductions were also seen in the number of provisional driving licences issued, and the number of applications received for theory tests.

Over 24,000 vehicles were registered for the first time in Northern Ireland from April to June 2012. This was an increase of 1.1% over the same period of 2011/12. Whilst vehicle test applications have fallen slightly from the same period last year, the number of vehicle tests conducted has risen by 1.2%.

Enforcement activity has seen an increase in the numbers of taxis and buses checked. The apparent significant reduction of 56.3% in the number of HGVs checked is due to the biennial HGV survey having been carried out during the same time period in the previous year.

This is the first quarterly update on the transactions carried out by the DVA. Further updates will be routinely published without any further press notification.

Key points

From April to June 2012, nearly 14,500 applications for driving tests were submitted to the DVA. This marks a reduction in applications of more than 20% compared with the same period in 2011.

From April to June 2012, nearly 14,000 driving tests were carried out by DVA. This figure is 16.5% lower than that from the same quarter last year. The overall pass rate for all driving test categories was 56.3%, an increase of 2.4 percentage points compared with the same period last year. The pass rate for car L-tests was 54.0%.

From April to June 2012, just over 223,000 applications for full vehicle tests were received by the DVA. This figure was a slight (0.8%) reduction compared to the number received during the same three month period in 2011.

From April to June 2012, nearly 262,000 vehicle tests were carried out by DVA. The majority of these tests (around 217,000) were full tests. Overall, the volume of tests conducted has increased by 1.2% compared with the same quarter last year.

From April to June 2012, the overall pass rate for full vehicle tests was 79.2%, an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared with the same period last year.

13,500 applications for Theory Tests were received by DVA between April and June 2012. This was a reduction of more than 1,000 (7.7%) compared with the same period the previous year.

The reduction in Theory Tests Conducted from the same period last year was considerably greater than that for applications received (-14.8% compared with -7.7%). On all bar two of the test categories, the pass rate for the Theory Test has fallen compared with the same period last year.

From April to June 2012 24,306 vehicles were registered for the first time in Northern Ireland, an increase of 1.1% on the same quarter last year.

The number of Ordinary First Licences (Provisional Licence) issued fell by 3.8% to 6,321, compared with 6,569 for the same period last year.

There were a total of 440 PSV Licences for Omnibuses issued between April and June 2012. This marks a decrease of 28.0% compared with the 611 licences issued in the same period last year.

From April to June 2012 there were a total of 270 Fixed Penalty Notices issued by DVA Enforcement Officers. This represents over a four-fold increase compared with the 64 issued for the same period last year.