More than 2 in 5 Mass. drivers failed the road test last year, a record high
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Over 40% of Massachusetts road tests ended in failure last year, according to an analysis from driving-test prep company Zutobi.
Why it matters: It's the highest rate in at least 11 years of state records.
- The failure rate has been creeping upward over the last decade.
What they found: Zutobi reviewed Registry of Motor Vehicles data on over 4 million Class D tests from 2015 through 2025, including over 1.5 million road tests.
- In 2025, 42.2% of road tests were failed, up from around 31% a decade before.
- The passing rate slid from 69.04% to 57.76% from 2015 to 2025.
The big picture: The decline is persistent.
- The failure rate rose in eight of the 10 years covered since 2015, dipping only in 2019 and 2023.
- Road tests peaked at 219,648 in 2024, more than double the total in 2022.
Yes, but: The success rate for written learner's permit exams skyrocketed during the pandemic.
- The written failure rate dropped from 41.5% in 2019 to just 14.2% in 2022. That's after the RMV began allowing online testing in June 2020.
- It went back up to roughly 28% in 2023. Last year 27% of written tests were failed.
Passage varied widely by age.
- Drivers under 18 failed just 18.6% of road tests in 2025, compared with 44.9% of those 21 to 24, and 53.9% of those 50 and older.
- That may be because applicants under 18 must complete driver's education and log 40 hours of supervised driving before testing.
- There's no equivalent requirement for adults.
- Zutobi found adults accounted for nearly 90% of road test-takers in 2024, up from 66% in 2015.
Of note: Applications surged after the Work and Family Mobility Act took effect July 1, 2023 and standard drivers licenses were opened to residents regardless of immigration status.
- The company says its data does not show why failure rates shifted.
Methodology: The figures come from RMV datasets provided in response to public records requests.
- Zutobi calculated rates as tests passed or failed divided by tests given each year.
- Counts reflect tests, not individual applicants.
- They note there was a pause in road tests in spring 2020 due to COVID-19.
- Zutobi sells exam-preparation products.