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Pretty soon teens applying for a learners permit will be able to take the written portion of the test online. The test will go online as soon as the DMV works out the details with a qualified vendor. As Whitney Ray tells us, this is the second attempt at an online drivers test. The first attempt showed as many as 40 percent of the test takers may have cheated.

A statewide pilot program allowing would-be-drivers to take their learners permit test online, failed. Forty percent of those who passed the online version flunked a supervised retest. The offline tests were nixed, but are coming back this summer.

“Online testing is not going away, it’s really the wave of the future,” said Ann Howard, a DMV Spokeswoman.

Howard says lessons were learned from the pilot program, and new safeguards are in place.

To safeguard against cheating test takers will have 50 seconds to answer each question. The parents will also have to declare they didn’t help. Finally, one in a hundred students will be called to the DMV to retake the test. If fraud is found….

“If mom and dad decide they’re going to fudge it a little bit and cheat a little bit their license will be suspended, because that is fraud,” said Howard.

No worries for the parents of 16-year old Peter Iskander. With his brother as his translator Peter passed the written portion of his test Tuesday. His brother doesn’t like the move to online test taking.

“A lot of people can rely on someone to get that test done by their friends or parents,” said Peter’s Brother.

Cheating will be hard to catch, but the written portion is just half the battle. Test-takers will still have to buckle up next to a driving instructor and guide a vehicle safely through obstacles. The online test will cost between 30 and a hundred dollars. Tests will still be given at the DMV free of charge.