Nearly half of all practical driving tests for a standard car license in Costa Rica have ended in failure this year, the highest rate in more than a decade. Of 104,497 practical tests for the B1 license with a recorded result through Nov. 12, 51,050 ended in failure, a rate of 48.9%, according to the Road Safety Council (Cosevi).
That is the highest failure rate for the category since 2015, when it reached 52.5%. The rate fell to 28.4% in 2023 and 29% in 2024 before climbing to 37% in 2025. The figures count tests, not people, and leave out no-shows. A driver who failed twice is counted twice. Motorcycle tests were the next hardest to pass. The A1 category had a failure rate of 35.2% and A2 had 30.2%, while categories such as B2 and C2 came in near 18%.
Across all license categories, 74,946 of 202,714 practical tests ended in failure this year, or 37%. Cosevi’s records show one person has failed the practical exam 40 times, the most it has recorded, while the individual record on the regular written exam is 55 failures. The data released did not include reasons for the failures. If you are working through the licensing process, the numbers suggest planning for the possibility of a second attempt.
The figures come as Costa Rica marks the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims on Sunday. The National Insurance Institute (INS) counted 535 road deaths through its October cutoff, up 13.6% from 471 at the same point in 2025. Motorcyclists accounted for 268 of those deaths, roughly half. They also made up about two-thirds of the injured, 27,182 of the 41,388 people hurt in traffic crashes from January to September, according to the INS.
The INS recorded 37,392 crashes in those nine months, and the number of people injured rose 9% from 37,974 in the same period of 2025. The Costa Rican Red Cross says it responds to a traffic crash about every eight minutes. The cost is borne in part by mandatory vehicle insurance. The INS said the compulsory policy, known as the SOA, has spent 50,576 million colones (about $112 million) this year on medical care and compensation for crash victims, or more than 185 million colones (about $411,000) a day.
With two months left in the year, the road death toll on Costa Rica’s highways and streets is already 64 higher than it was at the same point in 2025.
