Advertisement

ICBC survey finds 4 in 10 drivers would fail a knowledge test. Here are the top 5 mistakes

Click to play video: 'ICBC says crashes in B.C. have hit all-time high'
ICBC says crashes in B.C. have hit all-time high
WATCH: ICBC says crashes in B.C. have hit all-time high – Jul 17, 2018

More than 45,000 people have taken a new ICBC online test aimed at refreshing drivers’ knowledge of the rules of the road.

And the results aren’t particularly encouraging.

The public insurer said if those same people had been taking the ICBC knowledge test — the multiple choice quiz required for a learner’s permit — 40 per cent of them would have failed.

Passing the knowledge test requires a score of 80 per cent or higher.

LISTEN: The results are in on the ICBC refresher test
Story continues below advertisement

The average score across all test-takers was 79 per cent.

“The score isn’t stellar, so I think it shows that for many of us who took their written test maybe 10, 20, 30, years ago, [we] have forgotten a few rules and we could stand to get a refresher,” said ICBC spokesperson Joanna Linsangan.

READ MORE: There were 960 vehicle collisions a day in B.C. last year, an all-time high

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

According to ICBC, drivers had the toughest time with questions about what to do around emergency vehicles, how far to stay behind another car on the road and the meaning of a variety of road signs.

There was one area where drivers excelled: distracted driving laws.

ICBC says test-takers had near perfect scores on questions related to texting while driving. That’s despite more than 34,000 people being ticketed for using an electronic device last year.

These are the top five questions B.C. drivers had trouble with:

  • When approaching a stopped emergency vehicle with flashing lights on highways with speed limits of under 80 km/h, in addition to changing lanes, drivers must slow to: 40 km/h
  • When approaching a stopped emergency vehicle with flashing lights on highways with speed limits of 80 km/h or over, in addition to changing lanes, drivers must slow to: 70 km/h
  • The minimum following distance when behind a large vehicle or a motorcycle on a high speed road, should be: 3 seconds
  • The minimum following distance in bad weather or slippery conditions on high speed roads, should be: 4 seconds
  • Drivers are required to yield to a public transit bus that is signaling to enter traffic: on all roads where the speed limit is 60km/h or lower

ICBC also found drivers had big problems with some common road signs:

Story continues below advertisement

According to ICBC, 2017 was a record year for crashes in the province, with about 350,000 collisions reported.

It says there were more than $4.8 billion in claims last year.

If you haven’t taken ICBC’s Drive Smart refresher test, you can try it out here.

Sponsored content

AdChoices