Barra’s 13-mile road best for test

WITH one main road and almost nothing on it, the island may not present the very toughest of challenges for the learner driver.

It is not hard to see why learners in Glasgow’s Shieldhall may imagine their counterparts on Barra are on easy street.

But, as new figures revealed the Hebridean island as one of Britain’s top centres for driving test passes, a road safety expert denied the test was easier for rural learners.

Kevin Delaney of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said the high rural pass rates could be explained by a ‘psychological advantage’. He added: ‘What is different is the hazards you face, such as the level of traffic.’

The latest figures reveal just how acute this advantage may be. While test centres in the Highlands and Islands are seeing pass rates as high as 83 per cent, in Shieldhall it is just 38 per cent. The UK-wide low is at the Belvedere test centre in south-east London, where 30 per cent of learners pass.

The data from the Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) shows northerly test centres are way ahead of the national average pass rate of 47 per cent.

There were the 16 learners who sat their test on Barra, which has just one A-road in a 13 mile loop. Thirteen of them were successful, giving a pass rate of 81 per cent. Two Edin- burgh test centres had pass rates around the national average, with 46 per cent and 48 per cent respectively, while in Dundee learners faced slightly better odds at 2 per cent.

Mr Delaney said, the ‘stress factor’ of exams was reduced in quieter areas, relaxing drivers and increasing chances of a pass.

He said: ‘The problem comes when someone who passed their test in a rural area, hops in their car and drives into the middle of Glasgow. And if all you’ve known is driving around the suburbs of Glasgow and then you leap into your car and drive off north, you’re going to be in just as much trouble as someone from a rural area who comes to Glasgow.’