WAITING TIMES for driving tests have increased in almost three-quarters of testing centres and have doubled in some locations, since the new rules for provisional drivers came into force at the end of June.
Figures for test waiting times at the end of July, the first published since the introduction of the new restrictions, reveal that waiting times have increased in 35 of 48 centres and have doubled in two testing locations.
Birr has increased from five weeks to 10 weeks and Shannon has increased from four weeks to nine weeks. A 10-week waiting time was promised by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) before the introduction of the new rules. However, four centres have waiting times of more than 10 weeks. Wexford has the longest waiting time of 13 weeks (an increase of four since June), while Skibbereen, Carlow and Portlaoise have waiting times of 11 weeks.
Nineteen centres have a waiting time of 10 weeks or more, the RSA figures reveal. Before the new rules were introduced, only two centres (Clifden and Portlaoise) had a waiting time of 10 weeks and no centre had a waiting time over 10 weeks. The lowest waiting time is seven weeks, compared with four weeks in June.
Since July 1st, drivers who hold a learner permit (provisional licence) may drive only when accompanied by a driver who has held a full licence for more than two years or face a fine of €1,000. Before this date, drivers on a second provisional licence were allowed to drive unaccompanied.
Acknowledging that there was an increase in test applications around the time of the deadline, Brian Farrell of the Road Safety Authority said "it is nothing to cause concern".
"Overall there has been a slight increase in waiting times but the most important thing is that the average waiting time is still inside the promised weeks", Mr Farrell said.
The national average waiting time for a test has increased by a week and a half to just over nine weeks. However, in April of this year the average waiting time was more than 14 weeks.
Karl Walsh, general manager of the Irish School of Motoring (ISM), is not surprised that waiting times are creeping back up.
"In the summer a lot of testers are on holidays and people are still applying in their droves for tests," he said, but he is hopeful that waiting times will come back down by September.
