Driving test delays affecting 29% of Irish households

Almost one third of all Irish households have been directly affected by wait times to sit the driving test, a new survey has found.

Under Level 5 restrictions, only those deemed to be essential workers are allowed to proceed with a driving test, which has created long waiting lists for all those who do not fit the current criteria.

AA Ireland surveyed over 4,000 Irish motorists, 22.8% of which strongly agreed that one or more members of their household has been, or will be, negatively affected by the current wait times to sit the driving test. Meanwhile, a further 6.11% of those surveyed stated they they partially agreed with this claim.

The Director of Consumer Affairs with AA Ireland, Conor Faughnan, has called for Government support to be provided to the RSA to clear the backlog for those waiting on driving tests.

“For as long as we remain in Level 5 of Covid-19 restrictions, the Government have quite rightly taken the decision to restrict driving tests to those working in essential services. However, the longer this goes on, the longer the waiting list for a test date becomes for those who currently can’t apply to sit their test” said Mr. Faughnan.

The AA survey also found that instances of learner permit drivers driving without an accompanying qualified driver may be on the rise. 12.38% of those surveyed by the AA strongly agreed that they knew of at least one learner driver regularly driving without an accompanying driver, while a further 9.59% of respondents partially agreed with this statement.

“We have already had an issue in recent years with a small minority of learner permit holders thinking they had reason to drive without an accompanying driver because of difficulties getting a test or a requirement to get to work” said Conor Faughnan, who added that “this is not the case plain and simple, until you pass the test you must have a fully qualified driver with you, and Covid does not change that.”