Driver education includes formal instruction, supervised practice, licensing tests and graduated licensing, but these measures are not interchangeable. The available evidence spans Great Britain, the United States and Quebec, with periods from 1980 to 2025 and outcomes ranging from test volume to crash involvement.
Key Driver Education Statistics
The most broadly useful figures are:
- In January–March 2024, Great Britain recorded 666,000 car theory tests.
- In January–March 2024, Great Britain recorded 561,000 car practical tests.
- In January–March 2024, 46.0% of Great Britain car theory tests were passed.
- In January–March 2024, 47.0% of Great Britain car practical tests were passed.
- From January–March 2023 to January–March 2024, car theory-test volume in Great Britain increased 12%.
- From January–March 2023 to January–March 2024, car practical-test volume in Great Britain increased 25%.
- In October 2025, 45.4% of surveyed Great Britain driving instructors had availability for new pupils.
- In October 2025, 54.6% of surveyed Great Britain driving instructors had no availability for new pupils.
- In October 2025, surveyed Great Britain instructors reported a mean active caseload of 18.1 learners.
- In September 2024, 19.8% of surveyed Great Britain instructors said they never read the national training standard.
- In September 2024, 87.5% of surveyed Great Britain instructors were aware of Ready to Pass resources.
- In 2013, 76.3% of U.S. high-school students aged 16 or older reported driving in the prior 30 days.
- In 2013, the share of students driving across 42 U.S. state surveys ranged from 53.8% to 90.2%.
- In 2013, the median share driving across 21 large U.S. urban districts was 57.7%.
- From 2004 to 2013, U.S. passenger-vehicle drivers aged 16–19 involved in fatal crashes declined 55%.
- In 2020, about 2,800 U.S. teens aged 13–19 died in motor-vehicle crashes.
- In 2020, about 227,000 U.S. teens aged 13–19 were injured in motor-vehicle crashes.
- NHTSA states that graduated licensing can reduce a teen’s crash risk by as much as 50%.
Contents
- Key Driver Education Statistics
- Learner participation and licensing demand
- Theory and practical test statistics
- Instructor capacity and learner progress
- Training standards and teaching practices
- Teen driving participation and licensing access
- Driver education and crash outcomes
- Graduated licensing and novice-driver safety
Learner Participation and Licensing Demand Statistics
Testing activity provides a useful measure of licensing demand, but it is not a count of unique learners or course enrolments. In Great Britain, the January–March 2024 period included 666,000 car theory tests and 561,000 car practical tests.
The same official report recorded year-on-year growth in both measures. Car theory-test volume rose 12% from January–March 2023 to January–March 2024, while practical-test volume rose 25%; neither change is a participation rate or completion rate.
Source: Driver and rider testing and instructor statistics: April 2023 to March 2024.
Driving Theory and Practical Test Statistics in Great Britain
Test-level pass rates show how often tests were passed, not the share of learners who eventually qualify. In January–March 2024, the car theory-test pass rate was 46.0%, and the car practical-test pass rate was 47.0%.
| Great Britain measure | January–March 2024 result | Definition and limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Car theory tests | 666,000 | Tests conducted; repeat attempts may be included |
| Car practical tests | 561,000 | Tests conducted; not unique learners |
| Car theory pass rate | 46.0% | Percentage of tests passed |
| Car practical pass rate | 47.0% | Percentage of tests passed |
The figures are test-level observations, so they should not be read as individual learner success rates. The source also reports the 12% theory-volume increase and 25% practical-volume increase for the same year-on-year comparison.
Source: Driver and rider testing and instructor statistics: April 2023 to March 2024.
Driving Instructor Capacity, Workload and Learner Progress
Instructor surveys show changing reported capacity, but they are not a census of instructors or a national count of learners. Among surveyed Great Britain instructors, the mean active-learner caseload fell from 22.3 in June 2021 to 18.1 in October 2025.
The mean number of active learners who had passed theory also fell, from 13.0 in June 2021 to 12.1 in October 2025. In October 2025, instructors reported a mean of 8.1 learners with a practical test booked, compared with 9.0 in October 2022 and 7.6 in September 2024.
| Survey period | Mean active learners | Mean active learners passed theory | Mean learners with practical test booked |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 2021 | 22.3 | 13.0 | Not reported here |
| October 2022 | Not reported here | Not reported here | 9.0 |
| September 2024 | 18.6 | Not reported here | 7.6 |
| October 2025 | 18.1 | 12.1 | 8.1 |
Availability improved across the survey comparison: 32.0% reported availability for new pupils in October 2022, compared with 45.4% in October 2025. The share reporting no availability fell from 68.0% to 54.6%, while 36.6% reported availability in September 2024 and 29.8% did so in June 2023.
In October 2025, 17.0% of surveyed instructors expected 1–5 candidates to be test-ready within six months, 33.4% expected 6–10, 37.4% expected 11–20, 10.1% expected 21–30 and 2.1% expected at least 31. These are expectations, not observed readiness outcomes.
Source: Working as a driving instructor survey: 2025 results.
Driver Training Standards and Teaching Practice Data
The 2024 Great Britain instructor survey measured how often instructors read and use the national training standard. In September 2024, 5.3% read it more than once a month, 11.2% monthly, 20.4% quarterly and 31.9% annually; 19.8% said they never read it.
Use in teaching was reported separately. In September 2024, 16.5% always used the standard to inform teaching, 22.5% usually did so, 28.7% sometimes did so and 13.9% never did so.
| September 2024 instructor response | Share of surveyed instructors |
|---|---|
| Read standard more than once a month | 5.3% |
| Read standard monthly | 11.2% |
| Read standard quarterly | 20.4% |
| Read standard annually | 31.9% |
| Never read standard | 19.8% |
| Always use standard to inform teaching | 16.5% |
| Usually use standard to inform teaching | 22.5% |
| Sometimes use standard to inform teaching | 28.7% |
| Never use standard to inform teaching | 13.9% |
Awareness of the Ready to Pass campaign resources was 87.5% in September 2024, compared with 89.6% in June 2023. Awareness does not measure resource use or effectiveness, and all figures here are self-reported survey responses.
Source: Working as a driving instructor survey: 2024 results.
Teen Driver Education, Participation and Licensing Access
The CDC’s 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey article measured whether enrolled high-school students had driven during the prior 30 days. It did not establish whether students held licenses, completed driver education, drove independently or were exposed to the same training system.
Among U.S. high-school students aged 16 or older, 76.3% reported driving in the prior 30 days in 2013. The corresponding figures were 69.8% for students aged 16 and 84.2% for students aged 18 or older.
Race and geography showed substantial variation in the same survey framework. The share was 83.2% among non-Hispanic white students aged 16 or older, 67.6% among non-Hispanic Black students and 68.9% among Hispanic students.
Across 42 U.S. state surveys, the share driving ranged from 53.8% to 90.2%, with a median of 80.8%. Across 21 large urban school districts, the range was 30.2% to 76.0%, with a median of 57.7%.
A 2010 survey cited by the CDC found 39% of Black U.S. high-school seniors unlicensed, compared with 16% of white seniors. This is a secondary statistic from a different population and year, so it should not be directly merged with the 2013 YRBS estimates.
Source: Driving Among High School Students — United States, 2013.
Driver Education and Crash-Outcome Evidence
Crash evidence does not isolate education from licensing access, graduated licensing, driving exposure or vehicle safety. In the United States, passenger-vehicle drivers aged 16–19 involved in fatal crashes declined 55%, from 5,724 in 2004 to 2,568 in 2013; the decline cannot be attributed to driver education alone.
A NHTSA-reviewed study of 1.4 million driver records found parent-taught drivers had proportionally more traffic convictions during provisional and full licensure than other groups. The same study found proportionally more crashes, but the review did not provide adjusted rates or causal estimates.
Historical evaluations also require caution. In a Connecticut follow-up study reported in 1980, licensed 16- and 17-year-old driver-education graduates declined 57% in communities where school courses were dropped, versus 9% in communities retaining courses.
Collisions among graduates declined 63% where courses were dropped and showed no change where courses were retained, but the review says the first decline largely reflected fewer licensed graduates.
Across all 16- and 17-year-olds in affected Connecticut communities, total licensing and crashes declined 10%–15%; most young people reportedly found other ways to learn. A Quebec time-series evaluation published in 1988 found mandatory training increased total crashes because more 16- and 17-year-old females became licensed, with no reduction in crashes per licensed driver.
Source: Teen Driver Safety.
Graduated Licensing and Novice-Driver Safety Statistics
Graduated driver licensing is a legal framework related to driver education but not identical to a course or test. NHTSA reports that all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia had three-stage graduated licensing systems on the cited page.
NHTSA states that graduated licensing can reduce a teen’s crash risk by as much as 50%. This is a maximum reported reduction across studies or programs, not a guaranteed effect in every state.
Peer exposure is another part of novice-driver risk. NHTSA reports that teens were 2.5 times more likely to engage in potentially risky behavior with one teenage peer than when driving alone; this behavior measure is not the same as a crash rate.
The CDC reports that about 2,800 U.S. teens aged 13–19 died in motor-vehicle crashes in 2020 and about 227,000 were injured. It also reports that the fatal-crash rate per mile for drivers aged 16–19 was almost three times that of drivers aged 20 and older, an age comparison rather than an estimate of driver-education impact.
Source: Teen Safe Driving: How Teens Can Be Safer Drivers.