Safer roads - Compel learner drivers to sit test
More than 65,000 drivers are on their third learner permit. Of these 36,814 of them are on their fifth or greater permit.
No matter which way those figures are juggled, the reality of tens of thousands of people driving around the country without a licence is scandalous.
It is clear that many of them take a driving licence as an option rather than a necessity, driving on the roads for years or even decades without bothering to take the test while applying for one learner permit after another.
The response so far from Transport Minister Shane Ross is to criminalise those who allow their vehicle to be used by an unaccompanied learner and give the gardaí power to seize such vehicles.
This will have some effect, but is not the full answer.
The Road Safety Authority must be given power to compel learners to sit a driving test and give second and subsequent learner permits only to those who make a serious effort but fail. Otherwise, all we have is a hangover from the notorious driving licence amnesty of 1979.
