Authorities are not doing enough to tackle the “mind boggling” number of life-long learner drivers on the road in Ireland, according to a leading driving instructor.

Reports this morning suggest that plans for a crackdown on drivers who have held learner permits for many years has been delayed due to fears over a knock-on effect on waiting lists.

It comes after the Department of Transport warned that introducing stricter rules regarding how long people can drive on a learner permit was likely to see a ‘surge of applications’ for driving tests.

The Irish Independent reports that officials believe the surge would create “extra stress” for an already seriously overburdened testing system – and are calling for the crackdown to be delayed until waiting times are reduced to a 10-week maximum.

New figures released this morning show that more than 67,000 people across Ireland are driving on their third - or higher - learner permit.

The analysis of RSA figures from Peopl Insurance also shows that some 47,000 are on their fifth permit at the least.

On Lunchtime Live this morning Brenda Bolger from the Bolger School of Motoring said the figures are “mind-boggling”.

“How can we get to 67,000 drivers who consistently fail their driving tests or who have not even applied for their driving test and keep getting licenses issued over and over and over again?

“With absolutely no questions being raised or no action being taken as to why this is the case and why it's been allowed to happen and why it's been allowed to happen for as long as it's been allowed to happen?”

'No repercussions'

Ms Bolger said there is no incentive for life-long learners to get their driving test because there are “no repercussions for not doing it”.

“We don't have a Garda presence out there and we’ve been saying that for quite some time,” she said.

“It needs to be the community effort, the RSA and the Gardaí all coming together and putting this forward.”

Gardaí at the scene of a crash. Image: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

She said a full driver’s licence is the “bare minimum” anyone on the road should have.

“You will have people who say, ‘Well, I'm on my provisional for 10, 20 or 30 years and I've never had an accident,’” she said.

“That doesn't necessarily mean that you are a good driver.

“It means you're very fortunate to share the roads with other people who have done their tests, who are good drivers and who are maybe the ones taking the evasive action when they're sharing the road with somebody who isn't qualified to drive.”

Ms Bolger agreed that despite the need for a crackdown, the waiting times for tests are still “incredibly long”.

“We were supposed to have an inroad to making them an awful lot shorter by the middle of this year, and we don't seem to have done that yet either,” she said.

Waiting lists

Also on the show, listener Robin said she was left waiting just under 14 months to sit her driving test.

“I booked my test as soon as I finished my 12 lessons,” she said.

“Now I was lucky; I shared a car with a parent and I had been for a while, so my insurance wasn't exorbitantly expensive but by the time I got to the point where I was nearly getting an offer, I knew that I hadn't had my lessons in over a year.

“So then, obviously, it was costly to book a couple of lessons to refresh myself because I knew that if I just hadn't done any lessons and I'd waited for 14 months and did a test, I probably would have failed.

“I passed, thankfully, but it was a huge length of time and in that time, obviously I had to get my third provisional license.”

The Department of Transport has been contacted for comment.

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