Just launched is the new set of proposals for the introduction of Driving Instructor Registration. We have been waiting over 6 years for this to commence and during this time countless young Drivers have lost their lives due to the fact that there is no mandatory tuition requirement here in Ireland as in virtually all other European Countries!

Those entering the Profession as of now will be required to sit the three stage Examination and accreditation process and be accepted by July 2007 and those who are already practising Instructors and who have passed the DIR examination and monitoring process will be required to be accepted by July 2008. So there is plenty of time for everyone to do what is necessary. Hopefully the non professionals out there will be weeded out during this process.

Also hot of the presses in the last few days is the news that agreement has been reached in the on-going saga of outsourcing of Irish Driving Tests which has been on the table now for well over a year or more!

The company currently running the NCT operation has been given the go ahead to carry out a single tranche of 40,000 Driving Test over the next 18 months in order to bring down the horrendous waiting times for Tests throughout the Country. It is interesting to note that the number of Driving Tests from conducted over the last two years has dropped from the figures of recent years so this new initiative is a very welcome improvement!

Learner Driver Provisional Licenses will be reshaped as soon as the Test delays are coming under control and hopefully mandatory tuition will be part of this remodelling process. It is estimated that only 20% of candidates for the Driving Test are taking pre test lessons with the result that the failure rate is high at around 50% and the general standard of driving very poor indeed.

Mandatory tuition will save lives, waste much less time of hard pressed examiners and ultimately create a new generation of at least competent Drivers compared with the mayhem that currently masquerades as the Driving Populace!

With the improvement in driving skills the benefit of fewer accidents will be noticeable and this in turn will mean a reduction in Insurance rates for everyone. There will be less of a drain on the State coffers, which drain as a result of accidents, is currently running at the staggering figure of 1Billion Euro per year. Even a fraction of this put into Driver Education will pay handsome dividends.

It is really sad that it takes pressure from the E.U administration in Brussels for any meaningful action by the Department of Transport in dealing with the unique Irish Learner Driver demographics!