Latest news with #drivingtests
BreakingNews.ie
15 hours ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Driving test backlog: Where to beat the queues
The crisis in Irish driving tests rumbles on, with an average wait for a test now stretching out to 27 weeks on average, according to figures from the Department for Transport. In some cases, the wait has been known to go on for much longer, as long as 10 months. Advertisement It's leaving Irish learner drivers footing the bill for higher insurance costs as they wait to pass the test - or at least get the chance to do so. Some 68,000 people are currently waiting to take their test. The delays have now become so bad that the relevant Minister, Sean Canney, told the Road Safety Authority (RSA) - an agency currently being shut down and broken into two new agencies - to 'publish their plan, showing their projections of average wait time and numbers of tests to be carried out on a fortnightly basis to end 2025". "The Minister further instructed the RSA to report publicly and to him fortnightly on delivery of their plan, with any deviations from projected timelines to be immediately addressed with the Department of Transport,' according to a spokesperson. That plan has now been published, and includes ideas such as expanding the number of driving test centres from 41 to 60, adding yet more examiners, and expanding the working day of driving tests, starting from 7am and extending to 7.25pm — something that presumably limits the effectiveness of the plan to summer months, and indeed there RSA has said that the plan is supposed to be in place until September. Advertisement Speaking of the RSA plan, Mr Canney said: "The provision of a timely and efficient driver testing service is a key priority for me. The experience of learner drivers seeking a driver test over the last number of years has been unacceptable, and the service being offered needs to be greatly improved as soon as possible. "I welcome the RSA plan to bring wait times down to 10 weeks by no later than early September, and I expect the RSA to fully deliver on this commitment. "There can be no deviation from this timeline and I have instructed the RSA to ensure contingency plans and remedial measures are in place and ready to deploy to ensure that no slippage occurs.' Quite how the Government expects the RSA, which has failed so spectacularly in its other tasks that it soon won't exist in its current form, to fix this issue is another matter. Advertisement The Government has so far been keen to blame individual learner drivers for the problem, stating that some drivers book tests but fail to show up, thereby slowing the flow of tests taken. The issue of resources remains somewhat unaddressed — of 70 extra driving tests examiners promised before Christmas, the first tranche are only now starting to carry out tests. In the meantime, there is the potential for gaming the system somewhat, in an effort to get an earlier test. There's no onus on you to take your test in your local testing centre, and although you'd have to be confident that you can do OK on unfamiliar roads, you're perfectly entitled to book a test at any of the 41 centres around the country. Helpfully, Irish insurance aggregator Quote Devil has come up with a list of the centres with the combination of shortest wait time and highest average passing rates, so that you can maximise your chances of getting a test early, and then passing it first time. Advertisement According to Quote Devil's research, the testing centre with the shortest average wait time of those where more than 50 per cent of applicants pass first time out, with the wait at 13.3 weeks, half the national average, is Tuam in Co. Galway. That centre also manages to schedule 92 per cent of its applications within one month, so your chances of getting an early test are quite good. Ireland Driving test backlog reaches new high: Check the l... Read More Next best is Ennis, Co Clare on 13.5 weeks, followed by Thurles, Co Tipperary (14.3 weeks); Tipperary town (14.3 weeks); Loughrea, Co Galway (14.5 weeks); Shannon, Co Clare (15.8 weeks); Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim (17.2 weeks); Cavan town (17.6 weeks); and Monaghan town (18.8 weeks). What about the worst, though? According to Quote Devil's figures, the centre with the longest average wait for a test, of those with a passing average less than 50 per cent, is Dun Laoghaire/Deansgrange, with an average wait of 30.6 weeks, three weeks longer than the national average. That's a full seven months, and that's just the average. Advertisement Next worst is Naas, Co Kildare on 25 weeks, then Tallaght, Co Dublin on 24.4 weeks. The centre with the lowest passing rate? That'll be Charlestown, Co Dublin, where only 36.2 per cent of applicants pass on the first go. Mind you, Charlestown only makes you wait 16 weeks on average for a test, so at least you can get booked again quickly.
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Driving instructors face ban on booking tests to stop bots taking slots
Driving instructors could be banned from reserving tests to stop bots from mass-booking new slots. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is also considering preventing bookings from being swapped between candidates. Learners currently face a huge backlog to take a driving test, with 603,000 future tests booked as of the end of April – up from 521,000 a year ago. The demand for tests has prompted an influx of bots that use complex systems to block-book new slots so they can be resold on the black market for inflated prices. Nearly a third of learners, newly qualified drivers and their parents or guardians responded to a call for evidence by the DVSA saying that they had used an unofficial booking service to get earlier test dates, paying an average of £122. Bookings made through the DVSA website cost £62 for weekdays and £75 for evenings, weekends or bank holidays. Preventing reselling Currently, instructors are able to book and manage tests for their pupils, and tests can be swapped between learners. The DVSA's consultation on removing these abilities stated that it wants to 'stop the mechanisms that make reselling possible'. It added: 'Preventing reselling rather than an outright ban is a better approach.' Lilian Greenwood, the minister for the future of roads, said: 'This consultation is an important move towards giving learners more say over how and where they can book, alongside setting out options to better enable DVSA to block bots from stealing slots, so learners can get on the road without unnecessary delays. 'Working with the DVSA, we want to make driving test booking fairer, protect all learners from exploitation and reduce lengthy waiting times.' Loveday Ryder, the DVSA chief executive, said the agency had been 'working tirelessly' to reduce waiting times. She added: 'DVSA's goal is to make booking a driving test easier and fairer for everyone while preventing excessive charges for learner drivers.'
Times
22-05-2025
- General
- Times
Covid should be a distant memory but the fallout still infuriates
We are now nearly half a decade on from the first Covid lockdown being lifted, when we were allowed tentatively to go out for a meal, a haircut or church service — as long as you didn't sing. God, it was all so weird. Today is 1,766 days since driving tests were resumed. Understandably there was a backlog and everyone understood that waiting times might increase. According to the AA, at the end of 2019 (pre-Covid) the average wait time for a driving test in London and the southeast was seven weeks. Once lockdown was lifted, it jumped to ten weeks and by summer 2022, after another lockdown, it had crept up to 12 weeks. So, what is it now? Back to normal, right? No,
BreakingNews.ie
22-05-2025
- Automotive
- BreakingNews.ie
TD calls for RSA to appear in front of Transport Committee over wait for driving tests
A Fine Gael TD has called for the Road Safety Authority (RSA) to come before the Transport Committee on the significant increase in waiting times for driving tests. Michael Murphy, the Chair of the Oireachtas Transport Committee, has urged the RSA to outline plans to address the issue of waiting times when they come before the Transport Committee. Advertisement This comes as new centres, more testers and extended opening hours are the ways the RSA plans on cutting wait times for driving tests. Tallaght in Dublin and Navan in Meath are among the centres with the longest lists however, wait times have already begun to come down. The RSA aims to have average wait times for a test at 10 weeks, down from 25 weeks last month and the current wait time of 22 weeks. In a statement, Mr Murphy said: 'I welcome that the RSA has today released an action plan on how they will cut waiting times, but we need to examine how we got into this position in the first place with an average waiting time of 27 weeks. Advertisement 'The RSA has accepted my invitation to come before the committee and I hope they will address questions on the timeline of how this plan will be rolled out. We need details of when these changes will be put in place. 'Plans for accelerating training for new testers, expanding testing hours, and updating the booking system are all welcome, but we need a guarantee that these actions work. 'A 10-week target is very welcome, but we need to see how realistic it is to have this in place by September. 'People waiting for a test are beyond frustrated with these delays. The waiting times to undergo a driving test are really proving to be a barrier to people trying to take up work or education. Advertisement 'We want to see waiting times back to an average of 10 weeks and I welcome any proposals to do this, but we also need to hear from the RSA how they will prevent this backlog from happening again. It's completely unacceptable that waiting times ever reached that level. 'I look forward to working with the RSA and speaking with them directly when they appear before the Oireachtas Transport Committee on how they can implement their plans to cut waiting times',
Irish Times
15-05-2025
- Automotive
- Irish Times
Bring in financial penalties for RSA if it keeps missing driving test targets, TD says
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) should be penalised financially if it cannot meet targets for driving test wait times, Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore has said. She criticised the lack of accountability within the RSA and said there should be a system similar to that in operation for NCTs , where the test is provided for free if it slips beyond an agreed timeframe. Speaking on RTÉ radio's Morning Ireland, Ms Whitmore further criticised the long waiting times for driving tests in Ireland, with the average wait being 27 weeks. Some testing centres have waiting times as long as 43 weeks. 'The unacceptably high waiting list for driving tests has been an issue for many years now, and really what I feel is that there is just really no accountability within the RSA for them to actually meet their 10-week target,' she said. READ MORE 'We currently have 83,000 people who are waiting 27 weeks on average. Some testing centres it's actually as high as 43 weeks. And it's hugely impacting so many people and I think particularly young people who might need their driving test to get a new job – or indeed those that need to travel to college because they can't get accommodation and need to live at home. 'So this really impacts on so many people's lives and it has done for a number of years now. We've heard promise after promise from the Government that they were going to get on top of this and we really haven't seen any moves. In fact since we last discussed in the Dáil in February we've seen an increase of a thousand people on the waiting list. She said adding more testers would likely bring numbers down, but added: 'There needs to be some level of financial accountability for the RSA to encourage them to actually meet their 10-week target. With the NCT test if you don't get your test within 28 days under their service level agreement with the Government that test should be provided for free, and I believe that actually it should be the same for the driving test that if the RSA do not meet their 10-week target that actually that driving test should provide it for free. 'And I think if you saw that level of a financial incentive or financial accountability I think then we would really see movement.' [ TD calls for free-of-charge driving tests if applicants obliged to wait more than 10 weeks Opens in new window ] Ms Whitmore said measures such as opening driving test centres at weekends, along with overtime and the need to make sure that the contracts the testers are working under are sufficient and will encourage people into that industry. A suggestion by Co Clare Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe that learner drivers should be allowed to drive unaccompanied, was 'really dangerous', she said. [ Driving test 'amnesty' ruled out for experienced learners Opens in new window ] 'The actual safety issues with that are incredible and when you look at the fatalities amongst unaccompanied learner drivers they're very, very high and I think really those kind of suggestions should not be considered.' Earlier on Newstalk Breakfast Mr Crowe had called for some leeway under which learner drivers could drive without a full licence holder. In parts of rural Ireland 'where there is no Luas, there's no Dart, there is no significant transport network', people needed a car to get around. There should be a mechanism whereby their driving was monitored and they could not exceed a certain speed, he said. 'Some insurance companies have a speed restrictor in the car or a way of monitoring driver behaviour. Maybe that would be the smart way rather than criminalising all of these young people who cannot get someone to travel with them.'
