What are the most common reasons for failing the RTA road test in Dubai?

Dubai: If you’re learning to drive in Dubai, chances are you know someone who didn’t pass their road test on the first attempt. In fact, many learners admit they failed once – or even several times – before finally securing their licence.

While there are no recent official pass-rate figures published by Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), the experience of learners across the emirate suggests that passing the final road test can be more challenging than expected.

So why do so many people struggle and is it really about driving skills alone?

There are several technical mistakes that can immediately lead to failure. These include:

These errors are taken seriously because they directly affect road safety.

However, according to Dr. Suzanne Accetta, CEO of First Driving Centre in Dubai and a senior transport and mobility executive with more than 25 years of international experience, who previously served as driver training and qualification manager at a Dubai government entity, the problem often goes beyond basic driving errors.

“It’s more of a mental block,” she explained. "It isn't always about forgetting to indicate or misjudging a gap. It's about whether a learner has truly internalised what safe, responsible driving actually means - not just as a set of rules to memorise, but as a mindset to carry into every journey."

In Dubai, most learners fall into two main categories:

Dubai's roads attract people from every corner of the world, and with them come decades of driving habits formed elsewhere. Many expats arrive holding licences from countries that are not eligible for direct licence exchange, meaning they must go through the Dubai learner process regardless of their prior experience behind the wheel.

According to Accetta, this group often struggles with unlearning old habits. "As for experienced drivers, they carry their habits from their prior experience and it is difficult to change old habits," she said.

"For example, not indicating, not stopping at traffic signs or pedestrian signals, driving with one hand on the steering wheel. While learning, you have to slowly train to remove your old habits."

For those sitting behind the wheel for the very first time in their lives, the challenge is an entirely different. Here, the enemy isn't bad habits, it's the mind itself.

“It’s lack of confidence and nervousness that can take over you and make you forget what you have learnt,” Accetta said. “Confidence and control are key while driving. If a person is not confident or is nervous, they won’t be able to concentrate properly, which will lead to lack of control.”

In other words, even if a learner has practised well during lessons, anxiety during the test can result in mistakes they would not normally make.

One solution that Accette champions is the use of driving simulators - a tool that is already being adopted by a growing number of driving schools across Dubai. The concept is straightforward: expose learners to realistic driving scenarios in a safe, controlled environment before they ever face them for real on the road or in a test.

"Using a simulator can help get over your fear and put you in a similar environment with likely scenarios to build up confidence," she explained.

According to Accette, driving is not simply about operating a vehicle, it involves:

“It’s about helping them realise that driving isn’t just getting behind the wheel, pressing the accelerator and the brake. There’s much more to it - it comes with real responsibility. They need to apply everything they’ve learned, bring it all together, and that’s what ultimately makes a well-rounded driver.”