Driver knowledge test fail: The road rules learner drivers most commonly get wrong

The most commonly failed driving test questions can be revealed based on an analysis of practice test data collated from across Australia.

From road markings to right of way, learner drivers are faced with hundreds of rules to memorise before they hit the road.

Before sitting down for an official test, many budding motorists prepare with practice tests.

More than half a million of those tests have now been analysed by driving education platform EzLicence.

Questions involving some tricky wording, or which require more than memorisation, rank among the most commonly failed — but these all vary from state-to-state.

But there is some commonality.

Australia-wide, the questions most commonly answered incorrectly were about speed limits, including how they vary by road type, and situation, such as around school zones and roadworks.

One in five people nationally also answered incorrectly when responding to questions about headlights, indicators, fog lights and other forms of equipment use.

Here are the questions learners in each state found the most difficult.

NSW and ACT drivers toil over turns

The driving question most commonly failed in NSW asked learner drivers to select the movement which can legally be made by the driver of vehicle A in the image below.

Incorrect answers were given 53 per cent of the time, according to EzLicence.

The correct answer is actually O, P and Q — all of the manoeuvres could be legally performed in this scenario.

This question was also the one most commonly answered incorrectly by learners in the ACT, but only 43 per cent of the time.

In NSW, by category, learners struggled most with questions relating to night driving and visibility, and flunked one in five attempts.

Intersections and right-of-way questions followed, with errors in 16 per cent of responses.

Vehicle positioning mistakes accounted for 15.7 per cent of answers, road markings and traffic lights were incorrect in 14.6 per cent of answers, and overtaking and lane use responses had a 12.8 per cent error rate.

In the ACT, drivers categorically struggled with questions relating to speed limits, with a 16 per cent fail rate, and questions relating to intersections and right of way, with a 11 per cent fail rate.

Victorian learners grapple with give ways

The driving question most commonly failed in Victoria asked learner drivers to select the vehicles that vehicle A must give way to in the image below.

The question is answered wrong about 48 per cent of the time, according to EzLicence.

The correct answer is vehicle C.

Give way questions are the ones that Victoria drivers struggle with the most.

Questions about yielding to buses came in at a close second as the most incorrectly answered in the state, with 46 per cent of answers in the category missing the mark.

Driving knowledge in categories relating to road safety awareness was also lacking.

Learners in Victoria answered 38 per cent of tunnel safety questions incorrectly, along with 31 per cent of questions about following distances, and 37 per cent of brake failure questions.

Queenslanders have a similar struggle

The driving question most commonly failed in Queensland also asked learner drivers to select the cars which vehicle A must give way to in the image below.

The question is answered wrong about 44 per cent of the time in the state, according to EzLicence.

The correct answer is vehicle C.

Give way questions posed the biggest difficulty for learner drivers in Queensland in general, with a 44 per cent error rate.

But the budding motorists were 4 per cent more likely to get questions in the category right than their Victorian counterparts.

Queenslanders also commonly got questions about parking and reversing wrong (42 per cent), as well as driving over tram tracks (42 per cent).

Just over 40 per cent of learner drivers in Queensland also struggled to answer roundabout questions correctly.

Western Australian learners puzzle with parking

The driving question most commonly failed in Western Australia was a multiple choice about parking.

It asks for the minimum distance that a vehicle is allowed to park from a fire hydrant, offering 1m, 3m and 5m options.

Just over 60 per cent of learners failed the question in the state — the correct answer is 1m.

Learners in Western Australia also struggled to correctly answer parking questions involving bus stops, intersections and letterboxes, with failure rates ranging from 36.6 per cent to 43.5 per cent.

Based on category, questions about night driving and visibility were the most commonly answered wrong, with a total fail rate of 21 per cent in the state.

“Other common errors involved crossing double unbroken white lines (56 per cent) and maintaining safe gaps on dry roads (49 per cent),” EzLicence said.

South Australian learners reveal U-turn troubles

The driving question most commonly failed in South Australia was a multiple choice about U-turns.

“At which ONE of the following places are U-turns permitted?” the question asked learners taking the practice test.

Practice test-takers are given three options:

A) At intersections that have traffic lights showing a green right turn arrow and when it is safe.

B) On a freeway.

C) In an intersection where a “Stop” or “Give Way” sign is displayed.

More than 58 per cent of the learners answered the question incorrectly — the correct answer is C.

“South Australian learners most often make mistakes on rules that demand careful judgement and spatial awareness,” EzLicence said.

It noted this could be because the questions “require applying numeric or situational knowledge rather than just memorising rules”.

Tasmanian learners labour over lane theory

Tasmanian learners most commonly failed a multiple choice question about driving on multi-lane roads.

“You are driving a vehicle along a multi-lane road and the speed limit is 80km/h or less, which lane should you travel in?” the question asked, offering the following choices to answer:

A) In the left-hand lane unless overtaking another vehicle in the left lane.

B) In the left-hand lane unless you are turning right.

C) In either lane.

D) You must travel in the left-hand lane.

More than 60 per cent of people taking the practice test got the question wrong — the correct answer is C.

Category-wide, Tasmanian learner drivers had a 19 per cent fail rate on questions about overtaking and lane use.

Just over 43 per cent answered questions about navigating multi-lane roundabouts incorrectly.