RSA ‘on track’ to cut driving test wait to 10 weeks by early next year

DRIVING test waiting times have been cut by a third in the last 12 months but there are still more than 128,000 people around the country who are waiting up to 38 weeks to do their test.

The average waiting time is now 23 weeks while this time last year it was 33 weeks. However, 23 weeks is only an average and the actual length of time people in various parts of the country are waiting varies greatly.

In Letterkenny the wait is as little as eight weeks, in Longford it is 13 weeks. But, in 10 parts of the country, including Cork, Killarney, Mallow and Thurles it is more than 30 weeks.

According to figures from the Road Safety Authority (RSA) the wait in Cork on September 3 was 35 weeks with 7,486 people not yet accommodated.

Attempting to cut the backlog, the RSA has opened 22 additional test centres in the last few months, four of them in the last two weeks, in places where the delay is greatest. A further 10 will open around the country in the next six weeks, bringing the number of test centre nationwide to 83.

The new centres are being operated on behalf of the RSA by SGS Ireland who was awarded a contract by the RSA to conduct a minimum of 100,000 additional driving tests over the next 15 months.

Noel Brett, chief executive of the Road Safety Authority said: “Waiting times have reduced steadily throughout the last 12 months and the RSA is now on track to have an average waiting time of 10 weeks or less by March 2008.

“Our ability to reduce both waiting times and the numbers of people waiting to take a test will now speed up over the coming months.”

He said learner drivers should prepare for their test now because they will be summoned sooner.

“The best way to prepare is to undertake a course of lessons with a quality driving instructor. I also make an appeal to those drivers who are offered a test and who are unable to attend to please contact the RSA so that we can offer the test slot to another driver. At present 20% of tests are being lost due to cancellations.”

“We will not be satisfied until every driving test applicant can get a test appointment within ten weeks and the plans for the future include external accreditation of driving testing services, a review of test content and introduction of better customer services.”