Drivers to be prevented from continually renewing provisional licences

James Cox

The issue of drivers constantly renewing their learner permits is to be addressed once the testing backlog is cleared.

Junior Transport Minister Jack Chambers said the department is set to clamp down on those who drive on their provisional licence for years, after continuously failing their test.

In some cases, drivers have had their learner permits renewed after failing their test up to 10 times.

Brenda Bolger, of Bolger School of Motoring, said this issue isn't necessarily limited to young people, as some may think.

Ms Bolger told Newstalk: "For your first two learner permits they are for two years each, so that is four years. So if you've been on your learner permits for a long time, in essence you're talking about 12 years.

"The age profile of this person is a minimum of someone heading into their 30s at this stage. It's definitely something that needs to be addressed, because if you're driving on a provisional licence for 10 to 12 years, is driving for you?"