The DVSA publishes a pass rate for every test centre, and the spread is enormous. Across the 306 UK centres with a published figure, rates run from 34% to 81%, against a national average of 48% and a median of 50%.
That gap gets quoted constantly and understood rarely. So we did something that has not been done publicly: compared every centre's pass rate against the actual roads around it, using the route data behind our practice routes — roundabout counts, route length and speed-limit mix for 305 of those centres.
Where the rates actually sit
The distribution is tighter than the headline range suggests. Most centres are clustered in the middle:
- 30–39%: 15 centres
- 40–49%: 123 centres
- 50–59%: 114 centres
- 60–69%: 42 centres
- 70–79%: 11 centres
- 80%+: 1 centre
So 237 of 306 centres — more than three-quarters — sit between 40% and 59%. The extremes that get written about are a small minority.
The highest and the lowest
At the top: Rothesay 81%, then Arbroath and Kyle of Lochalsh at 79%, Duns, Stranraer and Ullapool at 78%. Every one is a small or remote centre, and almost all are in Scotland.
At the bottom: Featherstone 34%, Chingford and Wednesbury at 36%, Belvedere and Croydon at 37%, Barking at 38%. All urban, most in or around London.
What actually tracks with the pass rate
Here is where the route data earns its keep. Grouping all 305 centres by pass-rate band and averaging the roads around them:
- Centres passing 30–39%: an average of 7.8 roundabouts per route, routes of 8.8 miles
- 40–49%: 7.2 roundabouts, 8.8 miles
- 50–59%: 6.5 roundabouts, 8.3 miles
- 60–69%: 5.3 roundabouts, 8.1 miles
- 70%+: 1.1 roundabouts, 6.6 miles
The pattern is consistent all the way down the table. Centres in the top band have roughly one roundabout per route; those in the bottom band have nearly eight. Route length follows the same direction, if more weakly: high-pass-rate centres have shorter routes.
What does not track is speed. The share of the route at 30 mph or below barely moves across the bands, and neither does the share at 50 mph or above. The 70%+ centres actually spend more of their distance at low speeds than the 30–39% ones — 80% against 76%.
Be careful how much you read into this
Two honest caveats, because this is the part most articles skip.
First, the relationship is real but modest. Statistically, roundabout count correlates with pass rate at about −0.30, and route length at −0.21. In plain terms: roundabouts explain perhaps a tenth of the variation between centres. Nine-tenths is something else.
Second, that something else is almost certainly traffic and who is taking the test, not road layout. A remote Scottish centre and a London one differ in how busy the roads are, how much of the driving is in dense traffic, how much practice a typical candidate has had in those conditions, and how many candidates are on a second or third attempt. None of that is in our data, and any honest reading has to say so.
What the numbers do support is a narrower claim: the more decisions a route forces on you per minute, the lower the pass rate tends to be. Roundabouts are a good proxy for decision density, which is why they show up.
What this means when you book
Do not travel for a number. The difference between a 48% centre and a 55% one is smaller than the difference between roads you know and roads you have never driven. Familiarity with the area around your centre is worth more than seven percentage points of national statistic.
Do use the number to plan practice. If your centre sits in the 30s or low 40s, look at why. If it has eight or more roundabouts per route, your practice should be measured in roundabouts, not hours. If it has long routes, practise full-length drives so concentration holds to the end.
Do not read a high rate as easy. Rothesay's 81% comes with single-track roads, ferry traffic and rural hazards that a city learner has never met. Remote centres are easier on some axes and much harder on others.
Remember the rate is not about you. It describes everyone who tested there last year, most of whom prepared differently from you. Your own chances are set by your practice, not by the building you report to.
Check your centre
Our pass rate table lists every UK centre ranked, and each centre page shows that centre's rate alongside the roads that come up most on our practice routes and the speed-limit mix — so you can see for yourself whether yours is a roundabout-heavy test or a long one. For the wider picture, read how driving test routes work and the seven-step plan to pass.
SteerClear builds practice routes on the real road network around your centre and scores each drive live — speed, braking, cornering, lane position and observation — which is the part of your chances you can actually change.