One of the Republic's leading driving schools has called for the provisional licensing system to be scrapped. The Irish School of Motoring has called on the Minister for Transport to replace provisional licences with limited driving permits as part of his proposed reform of the driving testing system. Ian Noctor reports.
Seamus Brennan's proposals announced last week include the introduction of a private company to conduct driving tests, the doubling of the number of driving instructors to help reduce waiting lists, and the introduction of formalised instruction prior to taking the exam.
While welcoming the minister's proposals as a step in the right direction, founder and managing director of the ISM John Walsh says they don't go far enough: "The notion of provisional driving licences as exists in Ireland at present simply doesn't work.There are 350,000 people driving in this country on provisional licences, some of them for as long as 10 or 12 years.
"What we need to see introduced is a fixed duration driving permit, during which time the learner driver would take lessons with a qualified instructor. If the test candidate fails the test, they wouldn't be able to simply hop into their car and drive away, they would have to keep sitting the test until they passed it."
The minister's proposals and initiatives so far, including the Driver Theory Test have also been welcomed by the RAC, but spokesman Conor Horgan called for the detail of the latest changes to be published immediately. "What the minister announced is a step in the right direction, but we need to see the detail of his proposals to see if what's on the way is the necessary root and branch review of the way people learn to drive in this country.
"Take our nearest neighbour for instance. In Britain the average amount of time a learner driver spends behind the wheel with an instructor before they take the test is 26 hours. In Ireland it's usually a few hours crammed in the days before the test.
"To our minds, the learner driver should be given a test date when they apply for the exam. That way they will be able to take a series of lessons from a qualified instructor which will prepare them properly for the exam."
John Walsh agrees. "At present the failure rate in the driving test is averaging about 50 per cent. If that proportion of students failed the leaving cert each year there'd be uproar.
"The reason for the high failure rate is that people present themselves for testing and they're not prepared. They're just taking a chance. The Minister's insistence on formal tuition prior to the test will automatically mean the pass rate will rise."
The test itself, which lasts about 20 minutes, has also come in for flak from the ISM, which says it's simply too short to adequately test drivers' skills.
Both the ISM and the RAC concede that reform of the driving test system would mean a bonanza in business for them. Proof that formal instruction had been received will mean an increasing in bookings for them, but both organisations insist that improving road safety comes first.