Most motorists 'would fail driving test'

The driving test is being overhauled to make it tougher and more relevant to everyday driving, so consumer magazine Which? decided to put five drivers through the current one to see how they fared.

Three of them failed. It's a small sample, but it's also a damning indictment of driving standards on UK roads - especially as one of the participants was a 21-year-old that had held her license less than three years. Emily Wells had picked up so many bad habits in her short time behind the wheel that she failed her test for collecting 17 'standard' driving faults - two more than is allowed to pass.

Only one 'serious' fault is needed to fail the test - something that 30-year-old Tom Pitt fell foul of despite being within the number of standard faults allowed. He forgot to signal when turning off a roundabout. Notably, one of the five drivers failed for going through all the gears when slowing down - a practice no longer seen as the best thing to do. It was considered a major fault by examiner Bob Millard, the UK's assistant chief driving examiner who conducted the tests.

From October 2010 the driving test will feature a ten-minute 'independent driving' section, which is designed to give testers a glimpse of how a learner will cope once they've passed.

Mark Nichol