Dempsey caves on provisional drivers

Announced this afternoon — the rule requiring that a driver on a 2nd provisional licence have a driver with a full licence in the car is postponed until end of June 2008. 8 months to clear the test backlog (209,000 currently on their 1st provisional, by the way). Statement from the Department of Transport below. The phones must have been hopping over the weekend (the decision was not made in time to pull RSA ads explaining the now old rules from today’s papers; here’s the new RSA statement).

Measures pertaining to Provisional Driver Licence Holders

The Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, T.D. today (28th October 2007) announced that he is modifying the lead-in time for holders of existing provisional driver licences to enable them to complete their test by 30th June 2008[1].

From Tuesday next (30th October 2007) all new applicants for driving licences will be issued with a learner permit. The rules applying to a new applicants learner permit will stipulate that:

* The holder must be accompanied by a driver who has had a full licence for at least two years;

* The holder must have the permit for a minimum of 6 months of supervised practice before applying for a test.

From 30th June 2008 all provisional licence holders must be accompanied by a fully licenced driver of at least two years experience.

This move is made in response to two clear messages from the public, the Minister said today. Firstly, there is strong support for the proposed reforms to improve road safety. Secondly, there is a strong desire for a reasonable lead-in time to enable people to prepare for and take their test or to make alternative arrangements. For these reasons I have decided to defer implementation of the requirement for second provisional licence holders to be accompanied until 30th June 2008.

I now encourage all provisional licence holders, who have not already done so to prepare and apply for a driving test. The Government has already committed itself to providing the necessary finance to the Road Safety Authority to ensure that all 122, 000 applicants currently on the waiting list will have been tested by early March 2008. This will have eliminated the current backlog as promised. By the end of June 2008 all applicants for a driving test will be able to get a test on demand (within 10 weeks).

ENDS