New figures show women narrowing gender gap in driving test pass rates

New government figures suggest that women are narrowing the gender gap in driving test pass rates across the province.

Historically men have been more successful in passing their practical car driver test in the UK – but now it looks like more and more women are passing with ease, meaning less disparity between the genders in the pass rate of the driving test.

Before the pandemic, there was a difference of up to about eight percentage points in favour of men passing the practical car driving test compared to women.

But, since driver testing resumed in the summer of 2020, the gap has shrunk to about two percentage points – is this because women have suddenly become better drivers?

During the last quarter of 2022/23, men had a pass rate of 54.6% while the rate for women was 52.7%, in total, according to figures released by the Department for Infrastructure (Dfl), who added that they could not predict if this would be a permanent reduction in the gender gap practical driving test pass rate.

The figures are calculated each year as a four-quarter rolling average based on the number of tests carried out.

Before the pandemic the figures show that the frequency of people going for driving tests had remained relatively steady but since the end of lockdown higher numbers of young people have been applying for driving tests.

The latest available figures from Great Britain show there was a six percentage point gap between male and female pass rates before the pandemic.

The 2022/23 data for England, Scotland and Wales is not available until later this year.

In the last year, there were 68,540 driving tests conducted in Northern Ireland, the highest on record in 13 years.

The figures also indicate that women in Northern Ireland outperform men in the driving theory test, and have been doing so for the past decade.

According to the Department for Infrastructure, for the 2022/23 financial year, women were passing the theory test at a rate of 41.2% compared to 40.2% for men.