Over 3,800 waiting on driving test

Deputy Michael Lowry has established that 3,823 people across Tipperary were waiting to sit a Category B (Car) Driving Test on December 31, 2022.

1,571 are on the Clonmel Car Test waiting list, with 641 in Nenagh, 814 in Thurles and 797 in Tipperary Town.

Having contacted the RSA in recent days to establish more in-depth data, Deputy Lowry was told that, of the overall numbers waiting to sit a driving test in Tipperary at year-end, 561 were scheduled to sit a test and 1,279 were awaiting an invitation to book a test.

1,541 applications were paused, in some cases because they did not respond to an invitation to book a test within the 10 days provided, while a further 989 were deemed ineligible for reasons, including not having completed their 12 mandatory driving lessons or the fact that they are not eligible to sit a test within the first six months of having received their first learner permit.

Currently, the national average waiting time to sit a car driving test is 19 weeks, but the Department of Transport says that it aims to reduce this and maintain it at a 10-week waiting period.

The projected waiting times for people applying at the present time in Clonmel is 26 weeks, Nenagh is 10 weeks, while both Thurles and Tipperary Town are both at 11 weeks.

The RSA has confirmed that the backlog of driving test applications that arose as a result of Covid was cleared in the early months of 2022.

However, from July and August of 2022, demand began to increase significantly. The second half of the year saw a 36% increase in applications for driving tests.

There has also been a substantial jump in the numbers of people in the 17-20 and 30-39 age groups applying for learner permits. These people will also join the list for driving tests.

“Despite sanction by the Department of Transport at the beginning of 2022 to increase the number of permanent driver testers nationally from 100 to 130, some of these testers did not commence their role until December 2022, while three did not start until last month (January 2023),” says Deputy Lowry.

“Overall, the driving test centre currently has 125 permanent testers and 10 contracted testers. However, this figure still remains below the numbers required and is unable to meet demand.

“Across the entire county of Tipperary, Nenagh, Thurles and Tipperary Town each have one permanent tester, while Clonmel has one contracted tester. Clearly this is well below the number needed to clear backlogs or meet growing demands,” he says, adding that this must be addressed and he will continue to make this case with the Minister for Transport.

The RSA projects that beyond 2023/2024, a permanent pool of 170 will be required to meet demand.