By Karen Breytenbach
The traffic department is urging learner drivers wanting to sit their driver's licence tests to avoid Cape Town's major testing centres and go to those with shorter waiting lists, such as those in Atlantis, Durbanville, Brackenfell and Goodwood.
The six-month backlogs at Gallow's Hill in Green Point, Hillstar in Ottery, and Milnerton had arisen mainly because of high public demand, said Kelvyn Visser, assistant chief of licensing and prosecutions.
At Atlantis and Goodwood the waiting period was about two months, and at Durbanville and Brackenfell it was three, he said.
At Elsies River, Bellville, Kuils River, Somerset West, Gordon's Bay and Parow learner drivers waited on average five months to take the driving test.
"The public is often referred to the other testing centres, but do not necessarily exercise this option. Double bookings also clog the system as people fail to notify the testing centres when they pass (the test the first time). The second booking may be used for other applicants if we are notified timeously."
A senior staff member at one of the biggest traffic departments said demand outweighed the testing centres' capacity as the council had not hired more staff. It merely "shifts (staff) around from one testing centre to another to plug holes".
But there is light at the end of the tunnel.
"A new testing centre is to open in Ottery in September and another in Mitchells Plain in December," an officer said.
The director of one of the biggest driving schools in the province says a six-month waiting period puts potential clients off getting a driver's licence.
"It's killing business. It's the worst it's been," she said. "When people find out it's going to take that long to get a licence, they don't come for driving lessons any more. Many opt to drive without licences because there is no law enforcement."
The director said she did not want to be named as she feared the school's clients might encounter prejudice because of her outspokenness.
She believed the backlogs arose through inefficiency and corruption, not understaffing.
A source in driving circles alleges that at some testing centres backlogs are created artificially by officials selling fraudulent licences and including these in the pass rate. The normal pass rate at testing centres is 20 percent to 30 percent, and if 10 of the 40 learner drivers tested a day buy their licences by paying a bribe, officials have to fail most of the others to keep the pass rate stable, the source claims.
Visser said this allegation could be investigated only if the public came forward with information that could be followed up. "Where specific allegations are levelled against officers, these will be investigated... The reasons for passing or failing an applicant are given on the applicant's scoresheet and an objection may be lodged."
The owner of a township driving school said some clients tired of waiting resorted to driving without licences. "People get frustrated and drop out," he said.
One of his greatest frustrations was the shortage of Xhosa-speaking staff at the Bellville testing centre. "Many people fail because there is a language barrier."
A northern suburbs driving school said backlogs were so unbearable its clients were taken by bus to Swellendam, where the wait was only three weeks.