41-year-old women most likely to pass bike test

Women at 41 ace the practical module 2 test

41-YEAR-OLD women are the most likely to pass the module 2 motorcycle test, according to figures published by the Department for Transport.

Over 80% of 41-year-old women passed the road-riding section of the bike test between April 2013 - March 2014. This compares to just 69% for men of the same age.

28-year-old women weren't far behind and also scored highly with 101 passes from the 127 tests taken (79.5%), men of the same age attained a 71.9% pass rate.

The module 2 test involves real road riding and can only be taken once a candidate has passed the more technical, off-road module 1 section.

The statistics don't come as a surprise to instructor Lewis Broughton with Motorcycle Training London who thinks the only difference in training men and women is how they learn.

'Men learn more mechanically,' he said. 'It's easier to teach women in terms of how the bike feels, how it sounds - psychology comes into play.'

And when it comes to tears after test failures it's just as likely to be men to whom Lewis is handing the hankie.

'I've had quite a few criers, I've got to be like a councillor, like a shrink sometimes. I had one guy the other day who said he's just going to stick with his 125 after he failed. I have to get him back up, ready to take his test again.'

Overall men were statistically more likely to pass their test than women, with 70% compared to 68% respectively.

One statistic that would be great to change is the number of men taking their test compared to women. Between 2013-2014 over 40,000 men took their module 2 test compared to just 3,423 women.

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