Tricky roads are the reason for the high failure rate at Huddersfield's driving test centre, according to an instructor.
We revealed on Thursday that almost one in five tests taken from the Waverley Road site include a 'dangerous' fault.
There were 1,426 dangerous faults in Huddersfield last year from 7,312 tests.
Assuming one dangerous fault and test per driver, this means that 19.5% of Huddersfield learners got a dangerous fault, or nearly one in five on their test – one of the highest proportions in the country.
Huddersfield driving instructor Pete Tiernan said he was not surprised as the area has difficult roads with all of the test routes including steep hills.
But he said the kind of fault that was classed as “dangerous” would be seen as minor by experienced drivers, such as stalling at a roundabout.
“The examiners in Huddersfield are only human,” he said. “They might see a dangerous fault where another examiner in another part of the country might not.
“But Huddersfield does have a lot of hills and quite a lot of traffic.
How did they manage the accidents below?
“And a lot of the roads were historically farm tracks.
“But I’m not shocked or concerned about it. I don’t think for one minute the standard of teaching is any lower.
“I would say you have to be a better driver than most areas because of the hills – you’ve got to have clutch control.
“Just because we’ve got a high level of dangerous faults doesn’t mean people are driving round like idiots.
“You’d have to look at accident rates to check that.
EXTRA: Learner driver ends up on Asda roundabout ... on driving test
“But instructors do need to be strong and say to be people if they’re not ready for the test.
“If everyone spent £1,000 more on lessons and £1,000 less on their first car we’d have much better drivers.”
Only three test centres produced worst results than Huddersfield – Luton, Wood Green in London and the Darwen centre at Blackburn.
| Test centre | Dangerous faults 2014 | All tests 2014 | % dangerous |
| Luton | 2141 | 10075 | 21.3 |
| Wood Green (London) | 2203 | 10430 | 21.1 |
| Blackburn with Darwen | 1359 | 6792 | 20 |
| Huddersfield | 1426 | 7312 | 19.5 |
| Hawick | 13 | 71 | 18.3 |
| Wednesbury | 965 | 5589 | 17.3 |
| Belvedere (London) | 1150 | 6772 | 17 |
| Failsworth (Manchester) | 1407 | 8554 | 16.4 |
| Wanstead (London) | 1983 | 12096 | 16.4 |
| Hayes (London) | 984 | 6035 | 16.3 |
The kinds of mistakes that can land you with a dangerous fault include not observing properly at junctions, unsafe steering and not using your mirrors to change direction – or a combination of these as it is possible to get more than one dangerous fault on the same test.
Think you could do better? See how you get on with our Highway Code test below.
