10 years of data<\/a> from the California Department of Motor Vehicles.<\/p>\nAbout 3,286,146 people of the 10,164,062 drivers who took a road test from 2016 to 2025 failed to pass, Zutobi said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a 32.3% failure rate.<\/p>\n
On a year-to-year basis, about 400,000 of the 1 million test-takers each year fail the exam.<\/p>\n
The DMV data does not distinguish between first-time test takers and those retaking the test, Zutobi said.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what to know:<\/p>\n
Is California\u2019s road test more difficult than other states?<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no such thing as an \u2018easy\u2019 test route in California,\u201d Zutobi said.<\/p>\n
Testing centers in some cities, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, feature \u201csome of the most complex driving environments in the country,\u201d the analysis said.<\/p>\n
Prospective drivers may have to contend with 8-lane streets, short freeway merges, dense pedestrian traffic, roundabouts and other challenges.<\/p>\n
Even in smaller cities, testees may face challenges such as high-speed roadways, four-way stop signs and signal-heavy streets.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cognitive load on a California road test is higher than in less congested states, and the pass rate simply reflects that,\u201d Zutobi said.<\/p>\n
What were the most common reasons for failing the test?<\/p>\n
Some of the most common reasons people failed their road test involve failing to properly check their mirrors and over their shoulders before lane changes or turns, Zutobi said.<\/p>\n
Other common problems include errors at intersections, especially four-way stops; improper speed control, lane change mistakes and errors while parking.<\/p>\n
Test anxiety may play a role in many of these errors, Zutobi said.<\/p>\n
Tips on passing the road test<\/p>\n
Zutobi offered the following tips for passing the road test:<\/p>\n
Practice on freeways and busy streets so you are used to driving in traffic, simulating real-world test conditions.Master maneuvers examiners score highest, such as properly changing lanes, parallel parking and three-point turns.Learn California\u2019s rules on right of way.Practice in focused 30-minute sessions focusing on a particular skill.<\/p>\n
Loading\u2026<\/p>\n
Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
Don Sweeney<\/a><\/p>\n The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
Don Sweeney has been a newspaper reporter and editor in California for more than 35 years. He is a service reporter based at The Sacramento Bee.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A study found that about a third of California residents failed the road test portion of their driver\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-290932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}