It’s No Joy Ride Anymore : New, Tougher DMV Driving Test Being Flunked by 75%

It only took a minute or two after he pulled out of the examination area Tuesday for Frank Belmont to join the majority of people who take a new and much more difficult version of the driver’s exam and fail their first time.

The 17-year-old Anaheim High School student ran a stop sign in the Department of Motor Vehicles parking lot. Automatic failure, his examiner told him, handing him his score sheet.

“She said to call and make another appointment,” Belmont said as he got out of the driver’s seat so his mother could drive home. “Sure, I’m disappointed. I thought I was ready.”

Last month, DMV officials selected 30 offices in Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties to test the new exam, which features freeway driving and a lengthy pop quiz on equipment. Would-be drivers who miss more than three questions during the pop quiz immediately fail--even before getting on the road.

The new exam relies more than the previous one on a driver’s alertness and ability to adapt to changing road conditions. In order to pass, a driver must not be docked more than 15 points out of 226.

Since the new exam took effect, the failure rate has grown from 10% to 75% or more of those taking the test for the first time, DMV examiner Belia Martinez said.

“Only about five people a day pass this test” out of the estimated 15 who take it at the DMV office where Martinez works, she said. “But those who don’t (pass) seem to take it well. Most shrug it off.”

Because DMV officials are concerned that people will avoid taking their driving exams at those DMV offices offering the new, experimental test, The Times agreed not to publish their locations.

Time needed for taking the test, which used to be a maximum of 15 minutes, is now about 24 minutes. The examiner has the test-taker drive through business and residential areas, on quiet streets and on a freeway. The examiner watches the driver’s reaction to each situation, checking to make sure the driver is constantly aware of the changing surroundings.

People who fail the test generally flunk the freeway driving and parking portions of the exam, Martinez said. When it comes to freeway driving, she said, test-takers either go too fast or too slow, which results in an automatic failure.

“There have been times when I needed to grab the emergency brake,” she said. “Sometimes (her job) can be scary.”

DMV officials said that, while the written test is updated every five years, this is the first driving exam revision in 60 years.

“The main reason for the change was driver safety,” said Evan Nossoff, a DMV spokesman in Sacramento. “It wasn’t that the (previous) test was too easy but that the test needed to be more clearly parallel with current driving conditions.”

Last year, 4,163 people were killed and 315,184 were injured in traffic accidents across the state, according to the DMV. The new test was designed to reduce the accident rate by weeding out bad drivers, Nossoff said. It also addresses the problem of inexperienced drivers on the road, he said.

As a result, the exam “has become more in depth, fairer and it will result in increased driver capability,” Nossoff said.

After some fine-tuning and finishing touches, the test is expected to make its statewide debut by next June, he said.

Private driving instructor Amir Asgarnejad, 34, who was waiting at an Orange County DMV office for the return of the first of his students to attempt the test, said he was glad to see the tougher standards.

“Some students are just not ready, but they have been able to pass the test,” he said. “I am glad to see it has gotten harder. A lot of people have their license who don’t know how to drive.”

When Asgarnejad walked up to his 17-year-old student, Hector Lopez, he was greeted with a high five.

“I passed,” Lopez said with a huge smile on his face. “But the freeway surprised me.”

Lopez said he became nervous after watching television news reports about the new test and seeing a TV reporter fail it.

“Last night it was on every channel,” he said. “I stayed up to watch it so I could get a preview. I couldn’t sleep, it made me so nervous. It is a relief to finally have it over with.”