Over 700 Laois people on their 5th learner permit or more

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) recently announced that over 67,000 Irish drivers are on their third learner permit or higher.

This news comes as the waiting times for driving tests have reached shockingly high levels.

As of August 31 in Laois, over 6,562 drivers currently hold a learner permit, with 724 drivers on their fifth permit or more.

In Ireland, 67,163 drivers are rolling over to their third or more learner permit – up from 65,161 in 2018. 

Source: Road Safety Authority.

There are 3,715 drivers on their first permit, with 1,595 on their second. These figures drop to 311 drivers on their third, and 217 on their fourth. This number then dramatically rises to 724 drivers on their fifth learner permit or more.

Nationally, almost 5,000 drivers over the age of 60 have rolled over to at least their third learner permit.

Source: Road Safety Authority.

Three out of four of those motorists on 3+ permits are over the age of 30.

This is according to motor insurance experts at Peopl Insurance, which conducted an analysis of new figures from the Road Safety Authority (RSA) of the number and age of drivers on multiple learner permits.

The analysis revealed that almost 47,000 drivers are on their fifth or more learner permit.

Those in their 30s and 40s are the most inclined to be onto their third, or later, learner permit.  In total, 23,263 drivers aged 30 or older and 16,030 aged 40 or older are on their third learner permit or more.

At 4,799, a significant number of drivers over the age of 60 are onto their third learner permit or more. This includes 3,385 60-69 year-olds,1,392 70-79 year-olds and 22 drivers aged 80 plus.

The number of drivers aged 60-69 who are onto their fifth learner permit or more is 2,828, while the number of 70-79 year-olds doing so is 1,223. There are 206 drivers aged 80 or older onto at least their fifth learner permit.

There’s been a substantial increase in the numbers of drivers on learner permits over the last six years - up from 242,558  in March 2018 to 368,924 today.

The number of drivers under 17-years-old that are on a learner permit has more than doubled over the last six years – from 1,232 in 2018 to 2,782 in 2024.

Insurance experts Peopl Insurance say that the volume of people on multiple permits is 'moving in the wrong direction'.

The company contends that the figures highlight 'a worrying and continuing trend' of people rolling from one learner permit to the next – with a large cohort of drivers at the stage where they are now ‘learner permit lifers’.

“The numbers of drivers on multiple learner permits is staggering and is a concerning trend," Paul Walsh, spokesman for Peopl Insurance explained.

"We have had a record number of road fatalities in this country so far this year so every effort must be made to make our roads safer. We need to significantly reduce the numbers of drivers on learner permits," he said.

"This will not only improve road safety in Ireland and hopefully reduce road fatalities and injuries, it will also be a huge financial benefit to those who secure their full licence as these drivers can expect to pay lower insurance than those on learner permits.

"Not to mention the freedom that comes with having a full licence – including for example no longer having to be accompanied by someone who has a full driver licence," he said.

"Too many drivers have been on the roads for years without either taking or passing the driving test and for a country that has seen such a spike in road fatalities and injuries, this is simply no longer acceptable and the issue needs to be tackled head on," the spokesperson finished.