Driving test complaints
Driving test experiences that led to driver complaints
It has been revealed that 986 complaints were made to the Road Safety Authority (RSA) about the driving test during 2019, which equates to approximately 3 complaints every day against the driving test and driving examiners.
Released throught the Freedom of Information Act to media, some testers had told drivers to disregard speed limits, others have alledgedly gotten involved in shouting matches with construction workers during driving tests.
One examiner in 2019 was so arrogant as to refuse to shake hands with a learner driver about to take a test which was a very low act indeed.
This person taking the test in the West of Ireland said that driver testers were supposed to put candidates “at ease” before the test begins. They went on to say:
“Understandably nervous, I extended my hand to greet him when I was called into the room for the test. He ignored my greeting and refused to shake my hand.”
This poor learner driver said they felt they had failed the test even before setting out onto the road even saying some instructions were delivered abruptly.
“This made me very uncomfortable and more nervous, and I did not feel at ease.”
One other complainant said that the examiner kept “flinging” himself back in the seat after each gentle braking. The driver who took the test said:
“Throughout the journey of my test, every time I came to a stop sign and stopped the car, he persisted to fling himself back on the seat.”
The person taking the test said this had happened even before they left the test centre and before the car had even moved into second gear.
Anecdotally, this kind of tactic to deliberately rattle the learner taking the test to gauge their reactions happens and so testers need to be far more professional than this.
Another complaint, which is not totally the fault of the test centres or testers is getting lost on the way to the test centre because Google maps leads to the wrong side of the industrial estate in which the centre is located.
One driver apologised for being late to the test centre saying the address of the centre in Dublin in Google Maps, brought them to an adjoining industrial estate. The complainant was apologetic for obviously being late but instead of being informed straight away that their test was cancelled, they were left to knock on the door of the office only to be told they would need to book the test again.
“He mocked me by saying now you know where the test centre is so you won’t be late,”
“I understand you have been granted power and position but misusing the same is not exactly professional behaviour.”
Another Dublin driver unfortunately failed the test more than six times forking out €720 in driving test fees. Although, this may not be the ultimate fault of the tester, the driver said:
“If I have improved one of my mistakes,” they wrote, “[the tester] is failing me on something I have been good at on my previous test.”
In fairness to the driving test system, though, a learner driver needs to pass all the requirements of the test within that specific test. The argument that you were good at something in a previous test, does not count.
In another situation in the midwest, a driver tester had quickly cancelled a test because he said the brake lights were not working in the car. The owner had immediately taken the car to a garage where the lights were found to be working perfectly. The driver went on to say:
“It was very sunny this afternoon, so I can only assume that it was hard to see the lights.”
They said it would be unfair to charge for a new test in those circumstances, saying, “This is not good enough as it was not our fault,”
One healthcare worker decried the law of unaccompanied drivers during the covid lockdown as impractical. Even though he had forty years of driving experience, he did not possess a full licence. He said:
“You do realise this is an unprecedented crisis. People are dying and health care professionals who could help can’t because we can’t drive unaccompanied to hospitals.”
The number of complaints against the driving test centre or tester has obviously plummeted due to the covid lockdown with just 20 complaints made in the first half of 2020. A spokesman for the Road Safety Authority said:
“We take all complaints seriously and they are investigated and a response issued to the customer.
“It is recognised that the driving test can be a stressful event for customers; for this reason, the RSA places a high priority on the need for driver testers to be courteous to customers and the training of driver testers has a particular module devoted to this.”
“The objective of the RSA is to ensure that the customer is at ease and can drive to the best of their ability on the day so as to have the best chance of passing the test.”
The RSA released some of these sample complaints but said that in total, they had 1,006 complaints since January 2019 and it would not be feasible to provide all the complaints to the public.
The RSA dis say that the volume of complaints was only about 1% of all driving tests, which given just under half of customers fail their test was a “low percentage”.
Author
Justin Kavanagh
Justin Kavanagh is a recognised leader
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