Bad News For Learner Drivers Hoping To Take Their Test Anytime Soon

You might have done all your 12 lessons and be feeling like king of the road, but there's bad news for learner drivers wanting to be released from their L Plate shackles anytime soon.

The Sunday Business Post reports that the waiting list for driving tests has almost double in the past two months, with more than 76,000 people waiting to do their test.

In some parts of Tipperary and Galway the wait time is a huge seven months, while the national average wait time is three and a half - a whole month longer than what is expected.

Conor Faughnan from the AA said that taking the test is necessary for road safety and that the length of the waiting list isn't acceptable.

"We've been here before," he said.

"About 10 or 12 years ago, the waiting list for driving tests was unacceptably long - and what happens then is people start ignoring the rules.

"So you'll have unaccompanied drivers on the roads, you'll have the gardaí struggling to enforce because of the sheer numbers, and it's just not satisfactory. Citizens are entitled to a better service than that."