Average wait is 18 weeks
The Road Safety Authority has confirmed to Drogheda Life that learner drivers in Drogheda must wait for an average 18 weeks for a driving test appointment at the local driver test centre – the longest waiting list of any of the 41 centres in the country.
For many years learner drivers in Drogheda had to travel to Navan or Dundalk to do their driving test as there was no driving test centre in their home town.
That all changed last year when a temporary driver test centre was opened in the Drogheda Town Football Club premises in Marian Park.
At the time the CEO of the Road Safety Authority, Sam Waide, said that the RSA’s decision to open a new test centre in Drogheda was in recognition of the demand for driving tests from such a large urban location.
He added that “The siting of the driving test centre in Drogheda Town Football Club would be a temporary move while the RSA looks for a longer-term solution.”
We can only hope that the search for a permanent test centre bears fruit soon because, at the moment the average wait for a driving test is 18 weeks.
“As Covid19 restrictions continue to ease we will be assigning more resources to Drogheda to bring waiting times into line with other test centres” an RSA spokesperson told Drogheda Life.
“This wasn’t always possible during the pandemic because of test centre space and other restrictions.
“In the short term adjacent centres like Dundalk and Navan with seven to eight weeks have shorter waiting times and this should present an option for a customer seeking a test in a shorter timeframe.”
