Are Driving Tests Fair? Significant Discrepancies in Examiner Pass Rates Spark Questions
Recent data has revealed that some driving test examiners in Malta are failing up to 87% of learners, while others are failing just 16%. The vast discrepancies in pass and fail rates have raised serious concerns about the fairness and consistency of the driving test process.
During yesterday’s parliamentary session, Nationalist MP Mark Anthony Sammut posed a question to Transport Minister Chris Bonett about the failure rates of driving tests since January 2023. In his response, Minister Bonett revealed data showing that 58.4% of all category B learners—those applying for a standard car driving license—failed their driving test this year.
While this general observation has raised concerns about whether the driving test has become more demanding or whether external factors are contributing to these results, another issue remains under-explored: the massive differences in pass/fail rates between individual examiners.
A closer look at the data reveals significant discrepancies between each category B examiner, with test failure rates ranging from as high as 80% to as low as 16%.
These extreme discrepancies point to potential inconsistencies in how driving tests are administered, Shadow Minister for Transport Mark Anthony Sammut told Lovin Malta.
- Examiner A recorded 427 passes and 81 fails, resulting in a high pass rate of 83.7%.
- Examiner B only had 91 passes but a staggering 590 fails, giving them an exceptionally low pass rate of just 13.4%.
- Other examiners exhibited similar variations, with one examiner passing 71.1% of candidates, while another only passed 28.9%.
Sammut reacted to these discrepancies by saying:
“Unless there’s some sort of explanation, the data begs the question whether there is any form of moderation happening across the different examiners to ensure consistency and fairness in the driving test. It does not make sense that the random chance of failure varies from 16% to 87%, depending on who your examiner is.”
He added, “This merits a deeper investigation. Is an examiner being overly harsh, or is another examiner being too lenient? And why? Can we be assured there are no external factors motivating this behaviour?”
Transport Malta has been contacted for an official explanation on these discrepancies, and we are currently awaiting their response.
Do you think driving tests in Malta are unfair?