Government's driving test policy condemned

The Government's handling of the driver licensing crisis has been condemned as a shambles by the leading Opposition parties and road safety campaigners.

Figures released by the Department of the Environment yesterday show that about 17 per cent of the State's 2.1 million drivers are on provisional licences, with the backlog for driving tests reaching almost a year in some test centres.

There are now almost 360,000 provisional drivers in the country, with almost one-third of them awaiting a test. The failure rate for tests is around 46 per cent, with some centres showing 64 per cent of all drivers fail.

Mr Eamon Gilmore, the Labour party's transport spokesman, described the current system as a "shambles", adding that the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, needs to "get a grip" on the problem.

He said: "Measures must be taken to reduce waiting times so that nobody has to wait more than about three months to take a test. The law in regard to provisional licences must be enforced".

Mr Gilmore also suggested that driving lessons be included in the school curriculum.

Fine Gael's deputy transport spokesman, Mr Pat Breen, blamed the high test failure rate of on the fact driving instructors are unregulated.

"A sizeable percentage of driving instructors, who may not have even passed their driving test, could potentially pass on bad techniques to learner drivers," he said. Mr Breen added the results of the test itself do not show failed applicants where they went wrong and where they need to improve.

He called on the Government to implement his party's 10-point plan which proposes radical reforms of the testing and training process for learners.

The AA's Mr Conor Faughnan also demanded proper regulation for instructors and described the current law where someone on their second provisional is allowed to drive unaccompanied despite failing a test as "absolutely farcical".

Mr Eddie Shaw, spokesman for the National Safety Council, said there was "a distance to go" in preparing young inexperienced drivers. He said substantial investment was needed both to improve the quality of the driving test and to clear the backlog of learners.