Government’s permit system doomed to failure - Naughten

Fine Gael’s spokesman on transport Denis Naughten has claimed that the Government’s plan to abolish provisional driving licences and replacing them with driving permits is doomed to failure.

Transport Minister Seamus Brennan announced yesterday 4th November that he intends abolishing the current system in favour of a ‘driving permit’ scheme which would mean that learner drivers would be required to take their driving test shortly after receiving their driving permit.

However, the Longford / Roscommon TD has criticised the proposal saying it won’t work unless the driver training system is overhauled.
Mr Naughten said there was a 43 per cent failure rate in the current driving test system. He added that almost 1,400 provisional drivers fail the test every week.

“Almost one in four drivers on our roads are on provisional licences. The reason that we have so many provisional drivers is largely due to the huge failure rate for the driving test,” Mr Naughten commented.
He also attacked the Government’s refusal to regulate driving schools and claimed that many instructors may have never passed the test and are passing on bad driving techniques.