Driving test waiting time down to 17 weeks as 10-week target for September, says RSA chair

Irish Independent

a day ago

The wait has decreased from 27 weeks in April this year, with the organisation aiming to reduce it to 10 weeks by September.
However, many people continue to wait to sit their driving test for almost five months on average, as there were 100,000 people on the waiting list last month.
Speaking with RTÉ Radio One's Today with Claire Byrne, Ms Graham, who became the chair of the RSA in February, confirmed the organisation's target is 10 weeks and apologised to those still waiting for tests.
'I know how frustrating it has been over the last number of months,' she said. 'And so, we have a plan now in place to bring the target time, which is 10 weeks, back in place by September of this year.
'We're seeing significant progress, and that progress will continue over the summer months, until we get to the 10-week line by September.
'What the team have done is look to see whether they can increase the amount of driver testing time with the existing testers, as well as then bring forward the recruitment of the additional testers,' she said.
There are currently 70 additional testers being recruited at the RSA, Ms Graham said, adding that the recruitment is going 'very well'.
'There's another tranche now in place and will begin to do tests shortly. And then another tranche of testers will start their training and will be in place in July.'
When asked how testers are meeting demand, she said: 'Just increasing the working time, working overtime, working bank holidays.
"So I have to also say, thanks to the team that are actually working additional hours in order to assist the wider public to get their driving tests.'
The RSA is 'able to cover' the costs of additional testing hours from their existing budget, she said.
The latest figures from the RSA show that the number of learners who failed to arrive for their test is now above 3,000 this year.
Ms Graham said this figure marks a 2.2pc decrease in missed tests, but 'it's a resource that could be better used in order to shorten your waiting time'.
'It's hard to determine what are real problems that people have on the day of their test, because there are real issues that people have if they're not in a position to do their test due to illness, or even they might be nervous about doing their test.
"But there is a proportion that are probably doing it in order to retain their learner permits.
'The work that's going to be done in terms of the driver learning permits and different legal requirements later on this year, and that the [Minister of Transport, Darragh O'Brien] will be bringing in with the RSA, will close the loophole around you being able to do that and keep extending multiple learner permits.
"But the authority wanted to be in a position that had enough driving testing capacity to be able to deal with what would have been another increase in the number of driving test requests.'
The limit for the learner permits would be a maximum of three, she said.
'If you haven't completed a test by the time it comes to your fourth, you won't be able to have a fourth learner's permit.'
The plan was made by the Government in November last year to split the RSA into two independent agencies, following a spike in road deaths in 2023.
She said: 'We continue to operate under the existing legislation of the RSA, and there is one change that's underway at the moment, which is in relation to the road safety strategy.
'It's now going to be more responsibility for the Department of Transport than for the RSA. We had a role of putting it together and promoting all the actions, and that is now transferring to the Department of Transport.
'So the phase two action plan will be published very shortly by the Minister, which sets out all the actions that the different partners that are involved in road safety want to deliver over the next three-year period, including the RSA.
'We'll always retain what we're required to do in terms of driver testing, driver education, vehicle testing, that's part of the core business of the organisation, as well as the research and education and promotion of road safety matters.
"That will be retained within the organisation until the implementation of the government decision, which is to split the two parts of the organisation into two separate organisations.'
Although there's currently no plan to increase the prices of tests, she said the RSA got approval last year to 'increase some of those tests'.
'There hadn't been any changes to those costs for a period of time. It just enables us to be able to provide the services that we're providing.
'In previous years, the authority was a self-funding agency, so any surplus that it had would go into promotion and education, but that's now a defined budget is going to be put in place for education.
'We only need to provide any increases if we need to extend the service, or if the cost of that service is going up.
'It's only then that you would want to transfer that to the customer. But for the moment, I think we're in a position that we can deliver the service that we want to deliver based on the current income that we have.'
Ms Graham described the spike in road deaths as a 'tragedy for this country' and 'families of the victims', appealing to the drivers to slow down.
"Unfortunately, we're on a par with this time last year, so the same number of unfortunate deaths have occurred on our road.'