The Irish Road Haulage Association has called for "a root and branch review" of the Road Safety Authority and the organisation's operation of the driving test system.
The average waiting time for a driving test has increased by 18 weeks over the past five years.
A 2019 RSA annual report stated the average waiting time for a test was six weeks. However, the current average waiting time for a driving test nationally is now 24.1 weeks, according to the RSA.
There were 378,652 learner drivers in the State at the end of March of this year, compared to 233,025 at the end of 2019 - a 63% increase.
IHRA President Ger Hyland said he believes the increase in learner drivers is a result of the "mismanagement of the driving test regime".
The IRHA claims the figures coincide with recent garda data showing an increase in learner drivers caught driving unaccompanied.
Gardaí issued 10,552 unaccompanied learner drivers with fixed penalty notices last year.
The northwestern garda region saw a quarter-by-quarter increase in the number of unaccompanied drivers issued with fixed charged notices in 2024.
Mr Hyland believes an "inadequate and backlogged testing regime" is forcing young learner drivers on the roads without a full license or a supervising driver.
He emphasised that his association does not condone learner drivers driving without a fully licensed driver.
He said the increase in "learner drivers caught driving unaccompanied... is just the tip of the iceberg".
Mr Hyland added that the issue is affecting students and young adults in the workforce, as driving test waiting times are exceeding six months.
An RSA spokesperson said the driver testing service experienced "unprecedented demand in recent years with the number of applications for a driving test increasing significantly since 2021".
The service conducted 253,850 driving tests in 2024 - an increase from 196,853 driving tests in 2023.
The spokesperson said the delivery of 253,850 tests was "only possible due to the support of our testing staff through significant levels of overtime and improvements in operational efficiencies".
A recruitment campaign for new driver testers was launched in September 2024 with the aim of increasing the number of permanent sanctioned testers from 130 to 200.
There were 144 permanent testers employed by the RSA at the end February, including 28 personnel who were successful in the open competition.
The RSA said a further group of 13 testers are in the final stages of training and will be deployed to Dublin and Cork, where demand is particularly high, at the end of April.
Further training of new recruits is due to take place between next month and October.
The RSA said it aims to have 200 testers employed in November.
The organisation anticipates waiting times will reduce significantly towards the end of the year as new recruits join the service.
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'Doubling' of staff
The operation of the driver testing service is the statutory remit of the RSA under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006.
A spokesperson for the Department of Transport said it has sought to support the RSA in meeting rising demand through a number of staffing sanctions in recent years.
They said 70 additional driver testers were sanctioned on a permanent basis in September 2024.
The spokesperson added: "With a sanctioned headcount of 200 today, there has been a doubling of staff sanction in just over two years, reflecting the department's commitment to addressing this issue."
As a condition of this sanction to increase headcount, the department required the RSA to put a plan in place to restore the ten-week waiting time target as soon as possible.
In February 2023, the RSA submitted a business case to the Department of Transport for between 40 and 75 testers on a temporary basis.
These posts were sanctioned by the Department in March 2023 in full, with 75 additional posts created.
The department spokesperson said this temporary sanction ensured that permanent staffing decisions were not taken while the service was "experiencing post-pandemic distortions and created capacity to deal with immediate demand while a longer-term assessment of capacity requirements was conducted".
Under this temporary sanction, wait times halved from 30 weeks to 15 weeks between August 2023 and April 2024.
The department spokesperson said: "While waiting times have since increased as testers have left the service for a variety of reasons, the RSA is confident that the permanent positions now on offer will attract and retain more testers."
The recent driver tester recruitment competition, which ran between September and mid-October 2024, attracted 1,400 applications at the initial stage.
More than 155 candidates made it through all stages and on to a panel from which new testers will be drawn. Offers of employment have now been made to the first tranche of new permanent driver testers.
Meanwhile, the department spokesperson added, they are committed to addressing the matter of learner drivers with multiple successive learners permits.
Under planned legislation, it is envisaged that no more than four successive permits may be issued before a learner must start the learner driver process again.
It is understood this will comprise of theory test, learner permit, 12 compulsory lessons and a practical test.
The spokesperson said: "It is not possible to give a timeline for implementation at this point, as the legislation must be in place."
Driving test no shows 'clog' system - instructor
Driving instructor Brendan Morgan has said no shows at tests are clogging up the system and have resulted in around 8,500 wasted tests.
"There were 6,500 people [who] didn't show up for their tests in 2023. That actually increased to 8,500 in 2024.
"So that really clogs up the system, they're tests places that could have been given to somebody who was willing to do their tests, but these people didn't bother to show," Mr Morgan said.
There is a proposal to change the law to offset no shows but that has been delayed, he added.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Morgan said that there are going to be 70 additional driving testers in the next few months, but it is hard to keep up with demand.
Mr Morgan also said there is now a high likelihood of learner drivers driving unaccompanied being caught as garda detection is improving.
"If you have an insurance policy for a learner driver, that insurance policy is issued to you on the basis that you have an accompanied driver.
"So, if you are driving unaccompanied, you are not insured and that's a pretty high-risk game to be playing."
Mr Morgan said that if you are caught driving unaccompanied, the car can be impounded, you get penalty points and a fine.
"So, it's a very, very bad start to your driving career on the road," he said.
