Backlog of driver licence tests puts lives on hold, says advocate
Tuesday, 7 September 2021
Jake Beaumont spent hours working on his mirror checks and parallel parks ahead of his restricted licence test.
The only problem is it was booked in for August 19 – which would turn out to be the second day of New Zealand’s latest alert level 4 lockdown.
He is among thousands of New Zealanders who have been forced to postpone their practical licence tests, which can only go ahead at level 2. At least 13,000 driving tests have already been delayed.
Seventeen-year-old Beaumont, a year 12 high school student in Christchurch, wanted to get his restricted licence because he would be able to drive himself to school and to his regular weightlifting training.
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He also would no longer have to rely on his parents to drive him everywhere, he said. “It would give me a bit more freedom, I could go and do my own stuff.”
Beaumont said he was slightly annoyed when he learnt his test was cancelled because of the lockdown.
He had been preparing for the past couple of months, doing hour-long lessons with a driving instructor. He felt ready to take it, he said.
Although all regions other than Auckland shifted to level 2 on Wednesday, Beaumont was not sure when he would be able to book again, but feared it could yet be a couple of months yet.
Wendy Robertson, the national coordinator of Driving Change Network, said the lockdown would be disappointing for some people who would have been waiting for a long time to sit their test, though she recognised the lockdown was no one’s fault.
The network Robertson works for represents members who are mostly community organisations that deliver driving licence programmes, to help people get their licence.
Robertson said the booking system for a driving test had only recently returned to pre-pandemic wait times – after having to deal with a backlog of people trying to do a test after the March 2020 lockdown.
“The fear is that we’ll go back to that three, four month delay,” she said, “which then prevents people from getting a job, being able to legally drive their family around, [and] we know there’s a shortage of trucking people.
“It all just compounds.”
A spokesman for Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) said it was not possible to conduct practical driving tests during alert level 3 or 4 because the tester and the driver cannot fulfil social distancing requirements.
“Lockdowns create a backlog of practical tests nationwide that need to be rescheduled,” the spokesman said.
He said NZTA had worked with VTNZ to increase the number of testing officers since the last national lockdown.
About 2000 extra tests per month have been added since July last year. There is now usually capacity for about 27,000 practical driving tests per month.
The NZTA spokesman said a robust plan was place for rescheduling all practical tests that were booked in during the present lockdown.
“We are confident that VTNZ have the right plans in place to support this latest backlog of testing.”