Moves to cut delays in tests

A bonus scheme to encourage testers to work extra overtime and the relocation of several test centres which encounter traffic problems - these are just two of the plans being put forward by the Department of Transport to cut the time provisional drivers must wait for tests.

The average wait for a test is 40 weeks.

The Department is also understood to be keen to reduce the number of drivers who fail to present for tests. One official said that the cancellation rate often reaches 10 per cent.

Raheny in Dublin has the longest delay with applicants waiting 56 weeks. Other centres with a wait of one year or more include Dungarvan, Nenagh, Tipperary, Thurles, Clonmel and Carlow. More than 120,000 provisional drivers are awaiting tests.

A funding request for the bonus plan has been sent to the Department of Finance. Transport officials have also written in the past few days to the Impact union, which represents testers, urgently seeking a meeting.

Under the plan the 117 full-time testers will be offered a bonus if they meet a set quota of tests in a six- or seven-month period. Bonus payments would see the hourly over-time rate rise from €28 to about €42.

The Department of Transport hopes that up to 80 testers will be attracted by the incentive, leading to the possibility of about 40,000 extra tests being carried out this year.

A similar scheme in 2003 failed when only three testers signed up. Ms Louise O'Donnell, an Impact representative, said this was due to delays in approving the funding. She urged the Department to start talks urgently to ensure the same problem does not arise.

"The scheme was not finalised until the end of June 2003," she said. "The summer was half over and only three testers went for it." The delay meant there were too few daylight hours for testers to fill their quota, she said. Tests are only conducted in daylight.

"So we asked them to run the scheme over the end of that summer in 2003 and then let the testers make up the difference the following year but we couldn't do that either because of funding constraints." O'Donnell hopes to discuss the scheme with the Department at the end of the month.

The scheme was not offered in 2004 due to funding constraints, according to Impact. The estimated cost of the scheme would be €2 million.

The Department of Transport is understood to be keen to reduce the waiting times before the proposed new Driver Testing Agency takes over responsibility for training and testing drivers.

A Department of Transport official admitted that a number of factors were contributing to delays in clearing this backlog.

The plan to bring in additional testers on short-term contracts from the North or Britain failed because of differences between the tests and shortages of testers.

Delays caused by traffic congestion at certain centres was also being examined.

The official said congestion at some centres made it difficult for tests to be completed within the standard 50 minutes. Relocating some testing centres to less busy areas was now under consideration, he said.