Six out of 10 people who take their driving test now fail. With the pass rate at its lowest ever level, many learners are complaining that the test has become too hard. Tough, because moves are already under way to make it even harder.

The latest official statistics reveal that almost 1.7m people in Britain took the test between April 2004 and May 2005. Only 707,018 walked away with a licence, a 42% pass rate. When the test was introduced in 1935 the pass rate was two-thirds.

Many learners are now shying away from the test altogether, having failed two or more times. In 1966, more than 2m people took their test (half passed) and there were almost as many candidates in 1988. Then the numbers declined, dropping to 1,670,302 in the latest financial year. Meanwhile, the number suspected of driving without a licence has soared to an estimated 1m.

It takes learners 46 hours of tuition on average to pass their test at a cost of almost £1,000 at current rates. That compares with 32 hours in 1988, according to figures compiled by the Transport Research Laboratory.

This is hardly surprising, because the test is growing in complexity all the time. A theory test was added in 1996 and manoeuvres such as reverse parking and reversing into a bay were added in 1991 and 1999. A computer hazard perception test was incorporated in 2002, followed by a “show me, tell me” exercise to test drivers’ knowledge of basic car maintenance in 2003.

Novice drivers complain they are being discriminated against compared with previous generations. Getting your driving licence, they say, is a more challenging, lengthy and expensive business than before. Fewer than three in 10 learners qualify to drive before they are 21.

“The current pass rate is abysmal compared to previous years,” admits Mike Ambrose, road safety consultant for BSM, the UK’s largest driving school with more than 3,000 instructors. Robin Cummins, until last month chief examiner for the Driving Standards Agency (DSA), the government body that administers all driving tests, admits he is “not happy” with the declining pass rate.

The signs are the test is about to get even harder. The Driving Instructors Association (DIA) is pushing for a compulsory “driver’s record book” with pupils having to complete a “syllabus” and have skills ticked off by their instructor before they are able to take the test.

“At the moment we have a situation whereby pupils can put themselves forward for the test at any time regardless of whether a professional instructor says they’re ready or not,” says Peter Laub, head of road safety for the DIA, which represents more than 13,000 UK instructors.

Laub would like to see a reduction in the minor faults candidates can clock up before they are failed. The current figure is 15; Laub would like it lowered to 12. He also wants to see a roadside first aid element added to the test, similar to German practice. “Making the driving test harder is a contribution the DSA could make to road safety,” he says.

But isn’t the test already a lot more difficult than it used to be? The simple answer is yes. When the first successful applicant, a Mr J Beene, passed in 1935 it took only 30 minutes. It included an emergency stop, three-point turn, reversing round a corner and one or two theory questions to check the candidate had at least a passing awareness of the Highway Code.

Today the test takes more than 40 minutes, includes a choice of four possible manoeuvres, a separate theory test, a computer-simulated hazard perception test and questions on such subjects as how to top up the oil and check the brake lights. Most test routes also incorporate driving on A roads and dual carriageways at up to 70mph, although there is still no motorway driving element (something that safety campaigners regard as a glaring omission).

Cummins, now head of road safety at BSM, admits the longer test gives pupils more time to make mistakes but believes the overall standard required to pass the test is “still quite low”. The real problem, he says, is not the test itself but the conditions in which pupils have to take it.