Nearly 112,000 learner drivers failed the driving test in 2010 because they were involved in a near miss, reports the Daily Mail.
Of these, more than 1,000 incidents led to an accident or the examiner being physically or verbally assaulted, and a number of crashes were avoided by examiners taking control of the car, according to Driving Standards Agency (DSA) figures.
The main reason for failing the test was poor observations at junctions, which accounted for 260,000 failures. Parking accounted for around 150,000 failures.
Overall, of the 1.5 million learner drivers who took the driving test in 2010 more than half passed, a small increase on 2009.
Alan Esam, the AA’s learning and development manager, said: “It is all to do with people not observing effectively.
“If they are going to make a mistake at a junction, it is because they are not seeing if there is anybody there.
“If they are going to make a mistake carrying out a manoeuvre, it is because they are missing another car in the same area.”
Click here to read the full Daily Mail report.
Comment on this story