20,920 learner permit drivers in Meath

With 20,920 learner permit drivers in Meath, insurance experts at Insuremycars.ie are calling on the Government to address learner permit “lifers”, who they believe may be clogging up the system and costing themselves, and the taxpayer, significant sums of money each year.
The experts acknowledge that despite coming in for criticism on their driving behaviour, figures reveal that Ireland’s youngest drivers on learner permits are in fact the best at fulfilling their driving responsibilities, by taking lessons and passing their test in a timely manner.

However, the figures, sourced by the online insurance brokers reveal the same cannot be said for those aged 30-plus who are on their 5th, 6th, 7th or even 10th learner driver permit and latest statistics from the RSA show that there are 20,920 learner drivers in Meath alone.
 
 Deirdre McCarthy of www.insuremycars.ie says, “We did some homework around the number of learner drivers in the country and found the figures on multiple learner permits pretty staggering – there are 65,000+ people on their 3rd or more learner permit. And 36,814 of them are on their 5th or greater permit, some of whom are in their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s or 60’s! While a few may be late bloomers when it comes to driving, it’s apparent that many have been on the roads for years, without either taking or passing the driving test."
Recent reports have highlighted the lengthy waiting times for driving tests across the country with some people waiting up to 25 weeks to sit their test. 
"Something needs to be done to address this backlog and we believe that if people were restricted in the number of times they could be granted on a learner permit, it would lessen the number of driving test applications as people move from a learner permit to a full licence”.
The online brokers are advocating changes to the system to limit the number of learner permits that motorists can carry, or at least, to ensure that learner permit holders are required to actually take, rather than simply apply for, the test before getting another permit.