Overview
- The Fundación Línea Directa study presented Thursday tested 1,700 licensed drivers with a replica of the official 30-question theoretical exam and found 91.9% would fail while 8.1% would meet the pass threshold of three or fewer errors.
- Errors clustered in specific topics with motorcycle and moped questions showing about a 63% error rate, signage questions about 30% errors, and road-regulation items about 27% errors.
- Performance worsened with age and varied by region: failure rates rose from roughly 90% for 18–30 year-olds to 94.5% for those over 55, and were highest in Canarias, Extremadura and Aragón and lowest in Galicia, Asturias and Cataluña.
- The study found a large training gap with 77% of drivers reporting no post-license instruction and 84% saying refreshers are needed; public preferences included renewals every 10 years or requirement from a certain age and cost was cited as a major barrier to retraining.
- The report cites DGT data showing high fail rates on official tests in 2024 and stops short of recommending policy changes, leaving open whether authorities will pursue recertification, targeted retraining or other measures to close the knowledge gap.