The theme of this year’s survey was learning to drive. We asked a series of questions to help us paint a picture of the learning experience for our users. First up was the age we learned to drive at. As a nation, we don’t hang about, as 89% of motorists learned to drive before they were 24, though the majority (a claimed 43%) said it was before the age of 18, which is impressive.
Unsurprisingly, most were taught by either a qualified driving instructor (41%) or a parent (30%), though an eye-opening 13% of respondents say they taught themselves to drive. While we associate learner drivers with really small cars, it turns out that more learned how to drive in family cars in the Volkswagen Golf class, at 35%.
Irish motorists should be proud of the fact that 63% of you passed your driving test the first time - and 91% within two attempts. Just five of our respondents took five or more sittings to obtain their licence, while a worrying 20 indicated they don’t remember how many times they tried.
It seems there’s little or no appetite for continuing driver testing and assessment. A massive 87% of respondents have had no further training or instruction since they passed their test and when asked if drivers should be periodically retested throughout their lives the majority (40%) suggested that no further testing should be done.