Vol. 519 No. 7
19 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the total number of provisional driving licences which are currently on issue from his Department; the steps he is taking to reduce the number of provisional drivers on our roads; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14741/00]
An estimated 380,000 provisional licences were current at end 1999.
The Government strategy for road safety 1998-2000 acknowledged the importance of driver training and testing to road safety, with the qualification that these could not be expected to yield road safety benefits on the scale of the measures directly targeted at speeding, alcohol and seat belt wearing which have been prioritised by the strategy. The strategy proposed, for the longer term, a significant reduction in the number of Irish drivers relying on a provisional licence.
In order to attain this longer term goal, the short-term priority is to restore waiting periods for driving tests to acceptable levels. A record 154,000 applications were dealt with in 1999. Significant additional resources have been allocated to the driver testing service, which now numbers 99 testers compared to 66 in 1998. Together with productivity agreements and Saturday working, this has increased the testing capacity of the service by over 90,000 tests to about 200,000 tests annually. To deal with a 10% projected increase in applications in 2000, retired testers are now also being employed and additional testers recruited. Significantly greater numbers of tests will be conducted which should lead to a reduction in the number of drivers relying on a provisional licence.
Measures have been in place for some years and will be maintained, to restrict the long-term holding of provisional licences. In addition, the Motor Insurance Advisory Board is in the process of finalising recommendations for improving access to motor insurance for young people. The possibility of affording greater credit for the holding of a full driving licence may arise in this context.
