WEAR Channel 3 reports that failure rates for Florida’s driver’s license test are skyrocketing. In January, the state switched to a new 50-question written exam. So far, almost three out of every five people who took the exam through June didn’t pass. That’s far below the state’s typical rate. State officials expected some applicants would have trouble adjusting to a new written test implemented in January but acknowledge it erupted into an unexpected problem when they discovered more than 80 percent of drivers in some counties were unable to pass.
Just 41 percent of the state’s 310,000 test takers could pass the one-hour exam during the first six months of 2015, according to records provided by the DHSMV. That is nearly 20 percentage points behind the pass rate before the test was overhauled in January. The agency strives for a 70 percent pass rate.
Terry Rhodes said Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles told state officials that the agency is printing a new driver’s license handbook, developing a teen study guide and increasing education efforts with schools and tax collectors offices where many of the tests are taken. She said the goal is to better prepare teens to take the test. Rhodes said the new test is a better gauge of a young driver’s ability to operate a vehicle than the state’s previous test, which she said was more of a memory exercise.
According to the department, in 2010, teens were involved in more than 26,000 traffic accidents. That rose by 35 percent to more than 36,180 by 2013. Since 2010, an average of 78 teen drivers have been killed on Florida roads annually.
If you would like to learn more about what is on the Florida Driver’s License Test, click here: http://www.dmvflorida.org/driving-test.shtml
Source: http://www.weartv.com//news/features/top-stories/stories/failure-rates-increase-floridas-drivers-license-test-59597.shtml#.VcUFV_lVhBc
