The increased waiting time for driving tests is having a serious effect, particularly on young people in rural areas, Deputy Cathal Crowe said on RTÉ Radio One’s Drivetime last week.
Deputy Crowe, who is a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communication, voiced his concern after the CEO of the Road Safety Authority (RSA), Sam Waide, disclosed to the committee that the number of learner drivers waiting to receive an invitation to book their tests is currently 47,364.
The average national time for an invitation to undergo the driving test is 19 weeks, the CEO told Deputy Crowe and the committee on Wednesday (February 1).
The RSA is currently providing an average of 4,000 tests a week and that is up from 3,000 in October 2022, the CEO said. The backlog of applications which were built up during the pandemic was effectively cleared in 2022 and new demand was being met up to August 2022.
Since then, there have been challenges meeting the demand, the RSA CEO said.
Driving tests
There has been a 36% increase in applications for a driving test in Ireland in 2022, the CEO added.
Furthermore, there has also been a new and very significant increase in the learner permits being issued across all age groups since mid-2021.
There is a reduced workforce owing to staff retirements and contract staff reaching the end dates of their contracts and a need for dedicated training of staff to conduct tests in higher categories so as to meet the demand of bus, truck and motorcycle tests, the CEO said.
In reaction to this, Deputy Crowe said he had encountered constituents who had lost out on employment and who had to defer college years because of the situation.
“They cannot afford college accommodation. Mom and dad bought them a car, hoped they would be fully licenced to drive that car to and from home to college. They now can’t do it unless there is someone accompanying them,” he said.
“Moms and dads can’t drive everywhere out in the country. The reality at the moment is we have got 47,000 people in the backlog and this really hits, I would say, west of Ireland, rural Ireland, far more than Dublin.
“If you are in Dublin and you haven’t had your test yet, there are multiple public transport possibilities, not so in the west of Ireland,” said Deputy Crowe.
“We see places like Kilrush in my own county of Clare has a 35 week wait for a test. The national average is 19 weeks. So it’s devastating in rural areas.”
Rural areas
Deputy Crowe said that he put to the Oireachtas transport committee that the delay is felt more so in rural areas where people can’t have their parents going everywhere with them and that it was stifling employment and college attendance.
“They told me, and I think this is a good outcome today, there is positive discrimination. They are prioritising young drivers. Young learner drivers in rural counties are being prioritised,” said the Clare TD.
“Where they are hiring additional testers, they are bringing them to counties like Clare, Galway and Mayo where you don’t have that fabulous public transport network and where people need a good old-fashioned car..
“We should also see some convergence on that in the weeks ahead.
“But I think we need to look at outside the box solutions here as well,” he continued.
“There was a time in the 80s when we had a huge backlog in driving tests and they granted amnesty to people; they just gave them licences. I think that nowadays could be a bit reckless, but certainly I think we need to look at easing the mom and dad, the qualified driver,” he said.
“I think if you go over a certain waiting period running into 19 or 20 weeks and you’re living in a west of Ireland county, you’re trying to get to college, you’re trying to get to your place of work, we have to have a realistic outcome, a realistic approach I should say, to this until such time as we have everything back in line,” said the deputy.
“Somebody who has applied for a driving test already has undertaken extensive training, they have gone for lessons. When I got my driver’s licence, I think I went for two lessons.
“A lot of these youngsters have been for 12 or 15 lessons. They have undergone rigorous theory testing. Some of them are even doing virtual simulation driving at the moment as well.
“There are many examples pointing to people coming into the test better skilled and better equipped than a lot of us would have been years heretofore,” Deputy Crowe contended.
The so-called ‘Clancy amendment’ means that car owners who knowingly allow their vehicles to be used by unaccompanied learner drivers face stiff fines or even jail if caught.
Geraldine Clancy and her daughter Louise were killed on December 22, 2015, after being involved in a collision with an unaccompanied learner driver. Geraldine’s husband, Noel, a farmer, previously welcomed the introduction of the laws, saying they would help save lives.