Drivers facing waits of up to one year for tests

Learner drivers can still face delays of almost a year for their tests, despite waiting lists falling from record levels last December.

Last December, it emerged some of the State's 49 testing centres were experiencing 54 week delays, with ten reporting waits of more than 50 weeks. The average wait is now 42 weeks, according to figures released by the Department of Transport today.

Despite this modest drop, drivers can still wait up to 49 weeks between applying for their tests and the opportunity to banish the L-plates to the dustbin.

Motorists in Co Waterford fare worst, with Dungarvan and Waterford City both reporting a 49 week delay. Wicklow, Naas, Cavan and Thurles are all close behind, with waits of 47 to 48 weeks reported.

Compare this with drivers in Athlone, who only have 63 days to wait for their big day, while those in Ennis, Co Clare, wait a mere 14 weeks.

Spare a thought for motorists in Co Donegal, however, who appear to be the greatest victims of geography. The wait in Buncrana is a mere 14 weeks, but travel the 30-odd miles to Letterkenny, and the wait is 34 weeks.

The average wait in the Dublin area is 41 weeks.

There are some 120,000 provisional drivers on the test waiting list, up from 51,000 in 2001. There are 140 testers in the State.

The numbers waiting jumped dramatically last year after Mr Brennan announced his intentions to take provisional drivers who had not sat their tests off the roads. There are an estimated 350,000 provisional licence holders.

Last month, the minister conceded that hundreds of appointments for tests had been postponed by driving-test centres due to the backlog.

Mr Brennan has pledged to establish a driver-testing agency, run as a semi-State agency, next month. This would run the system with a "more professional, commercial" approach, he said.

Other measures he has announced to cut the test failure rate of 48 per cent are that driving instructors will be State-approved in the future and provisional licence holders will have to prove they have taken a minimum amount of formal instruction before they sit a test.