The private firm appointed to carry out 40,000 driving tests to reduce the waiting list is only going to provide tests in the east of the State.
SGS Ireland, the parent company of the firm that runs the National Car Test, will start providing tests at four centres; Fonthill, Citywest, Northpoint and Naas, from October 23rd before the remaining centres start providing tests on December 4th.
The extra tests are concentrated along the east coast because this is where drivers face the longest waiting times, according to the company.
Learner drivers seeking a test in Navan must wait 62 weeks and those in Tallaght wait 60 weeks. Clonmel and Nenagh have the next longest times. More than 137,000 provisional drivers are waiting for a test.
SGS hopes to complete its contract for 40,000 tests by the end of next July. Ten centres will be used for the driving tests. Each SGS centre is linked to a Department of Transport test centre.
That means a driver who has applied for a test in Tallaght may receive a letter offering a test at the nearby Citywest SGS office.
While the standard, duration and requirements of the tests will be exactly the same as those carried out by Department of Transport testers, the routes will be different. A spokeswoman for SGS said last night that details on these routes was not yet available as a number have yet to be validated by the Department.
A number of driving schools are understood to have contacted SGS seeking details of the routes to provide pre-tests for learner drivers due to take a test with the firm. To date more than 4,780 letters have issued offering provisional drivers tests with SGS. The spokeswoman said a small minority of drivers were surprised to have been offered a test so soon and had requested later dates.
As with the Department of Transport testers, a provisional driver can cancel or rearrange a test date twice before being asked to reapply for the test. Drivers are being given six to eight weeks notice in the SGS offer letters.
As with the Department of Transport testers, SGS is going to offer weekend driving tests and, from next spring, additional tests in the evenings. The company has hired 30 testers who have been trained by road safety firm Sweroad.
The Minister for Transport Martin Cullen had to overcome severe opposition from unions to get a private firm involved in testing. This was a key part of his plan to reduce the waiting list.
However, latest data suggests that other recently introduced measures are having an impact. According to the Department of Transport, the average waiting time is now 28 weeks, down from the average of 34 weeks as recently as July and the more than 40 weeks average at the beginning of the year.
The Department has hired additional driver testers and put in place an overtime bonus scheme to provide driving tests in the evenings, at offpeak times. The shortest wait is in Cavan with drivers given a date within just 11 weeks, followed by Monaghan with a 12 week wait.
