The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has said that it is considering the indroduction of a mandatory training programme, and a driving test for new category W only learner permit applicants.

According to the RSA, category W vehicles are work vehicles and tractors with a maximum design speed of 40 km/h, that are constructed primarily for work other than for the carriage of goods or burdens by road.

An RSA spokesperson told Agriland: "This has been considered and it has been decided that it will become part of a review of the learning to drive curriculum.

"This work will be ongoing as part of phase 2 of the Road Safety Strategy, which is due to be launched shortly, and runs from 2025 to 2027," the spokesperson added.

Separately, the RSA said it has witnessed early progress under an action plan it implemented to reduce driving test wait periods.

The RSA announced the comprehensive action plan – which had a target of slashing wait times by over half – last month.

In early April, average wait times were 27 weeks. As of May 31, under the new action plan, these wait times were reduced to 20.6 weeks.

The RSA is targeting a 10-week wait period by September.

RSA chief operations officer, Brendan Walsh said: “While there is still a considerable journey ahead to get to the 10 weeks’ SLA (service level agreement) by September, we are encouraged by the early indicators of progress.”

Walsh added that over 700 tests were scheduled over the June Bank Holiday in a bid to stay on target.

According to the RSA, there is currently a backlog of 100,000 applicants waiting to be tested.

The RSA has implemented several measures to facilitate extra testing:

Accelerated training of new testers through the use of additional training facilities;
Prolonged testing hours, which include overtime during weekdays, as well as Saturdays and bank holidays – with tests running from 07:25a.m to 7:00p.m;
Prioritising areas of greatest demand when issuing invitations to test in order to create a more efficient slot allocation system. 

On top of this, additional driving test centres will open in areas of high demand, bringing the national total to 60 centres.

The number of driving tests conducted annually has steadily increased year-on-year, reflecting growing demand – from 157,183 in 2021, rising to 180,696 in 2022, 212,525 in 2023, and reaching 253,850 last year.