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Source: New Zealand Transport Agency
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is working hard with its contracted provider Vehicle Testing New Zealand (VTNZ) to shorten wait times for practical driver testing across New Zealand, to address the sharp increase in demand for testing as a result of multiple Covid-19 Alert Level changes.
During the national and greater Auckland region Alert Level 3 and 4 lockdowns in the past 12 months as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, VTNZ was unable to conduct practical tests because the social distancing requirements necessary to reduce the potential spread of Covid-19 could not be achieved between the tester and the driver within the vehicle.
Months-long waits for driver tests are an intolerable hold-up, according to South Wairarapa s Mayor, who is demanding a quicker turnaround for learner drivers as the number waiting across the country sits at about 40,000.
Mākoura College students watch a safety demonstration during a RYDA [Road Safety Education] workshop at Solway Showgrounds, Masterton. Students at the school, and other Wairarapa leaner drivers, are waiting up to three months to get a restricted licence test.
Photo: WAIRARAPA TIMES-AGE / MARCUS ANSELM
Alex Beijen joined Sandra Goudie, his counterpart in Thames-Coromandel, in demanding a quicker turnaround for learner drivers.
The queue to take a test rose to 42,000 across New Zealand, with wait times of more than 100 days at Masterton s Vehicle Testing New Zealand [VTNZ] centre, the closest testing centre for Masterton and Carterton districts and most of South Wairarapa district.
The wait for driver licence tests in Gisborne is at least five weeks, leaving rural East Coast residents trying to enter the workforce in limbo.
NZTA and VTNZ say Covid-19 lockdowns have created a backlog of 42,000 driver tests nationwide.
Photo: LDR / Alice Angeloni
One driving instructor called the wait for a practical test, which earlier this week stretched into June, extraordinary and said he had not seen it like this in 25 years.
When Mcinnes Driver Training office manager Colin Simpson tried to book practical driving tests in Gisborne last week, no spots were available. There wasn t a single booking slot in Gisborne at all, forever, he said.
Sitting your driver s licence in the Bay of Plenty? These testing spots have the best pass rates
23 Feb, 2021 06:00 PM
4 minutes to read
The best place to sit your licence based on pass rates across the region has been revealed. Photo / Supplied
The best place to sit your licence based on pass rates across the region has been revealed. Photo / Supplied
Drivers hoping to have the freedom of wheels will be praying they are not among the 40 per cent of people in the Bay of Plenty who fail their test. Data released by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency under the Official Information Act show VTNZ (Vehicle Testing New Zealand) driver testing stations across the region have an average pass rate of 60 per cent.