The files piled up on the desk of Arnaud, manager of a driving school in Paris, accumulate as much as cars on the Autoroute du Soleil on a Friday in July. For three months, no student was able to take driving lessons or pass their license. 350,000 practical and theoretical exams, without counting the many hours of driving, had to be canceled. And since the reopening of driving schools the week of May 11, candidates have been scrambling.
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Justine was almost at the end of her 25-hour package when containment was declared. " I thought I had my license for this summer, everything was calculated, before everything was turned upside down ." The 25-year-old woman has just finished her studies in political science and counted on this pink passport to better enter the job market. “It's very stressful, we don't know when we're going to be able to pass our license. I'm waiting for my instructor to call me to give me a date, but sometimes there is only one place per day. ”
Jérémy had made the same bet. A communication student, he is looking for a work-study program for the start of the 2020 academic year, but " without a license, it becomes more complicated ". His timing was however well oiled. Exam March 17, by September, he had time to restart if he failed. But that was without counting the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic and the declared containment ... on March 17. Initially relieved, for fear of falling ill, he quickly worried about not getting the precious sesame, noticing the queue and the time to get an exam date.
Relieve congestion
Since the deconfinement, candidates have seen waiting times sometimes double. " The waiting time on the platform is usually two months, at the moment it's more like five, according to my driving instructor ". Solène therefore decided to take matters into her own hands as soon as the confinement ended. Learning the accelerated code and optimizing class hours, the young executive in digital marketing has put all the odds on her side to be able to chain driving lessons during the summer and pass her license at the start of the school year. But slots are scarce, despite the authorization to take the exam again since June 8.
The waiting time on the platform is usually two months, at the moment it is rather five.
Solène, 25The National Union of Driving Independents (unic) alerts to the growing queue, the inspectors can only pass 11 candidates per day against 13 in normal times. To mop up the overflow, "90,000 additional exams have been created", as well as " former retired examiners have been recalled, " according to Clémentine Gonzalez, national secretary of SNICA FO, a union bringing together inspectors and administrators of the permit. To drive.
At the same time, many driving schools have decided to increase the number of lessons and to widen the timetables to accommodate more students. Édouard Rudolf, co-founder of En Voiture Simone, an online platform bringing together some fifty partner structures and more than 200,000 subscribers, noted a price increase of 40%. He adds that " new teachers have been hired " to meet this demand and all " have been trained on the health protocol ".
Masks, visors and protective cover
In order to protect the future driver, the teacher and the examiner, a health protocol has been put in place. Each person in the passenger compartment must wear a mask and a visor for those who are not driving. The seats are covered with a changed cover for each new student. The windows are constantly open to allow fresh air to circulate and after each course, the driver cleans the steering wheel, the gear lever and the indicators.
" It is very restrictive, we are hot and I am less understood ", maugré Alex, driving teacher at Guéret in the Creuse. " But it is necessary if it keeps us from getting sick, " he adds. Solène, she quickly got used to the instructions despite the apprehension at the start: " I thought it was going to be complicated and that stress would keep me from concentrating " but she quickly " forgot the mask ". The permit examination was also adapted: the theoretical questions were removed to allow the student to wash the vehicle.
Will examiners be more forgiving with these new measures? The answer is no for Alex and "fortunately" , he hastens to add. The answer seems unanimous, whether for teachers, examiners or students. Sophiane narrowly missed her license but he "does not regret and understand their requirement ". The 24 year old student is reasonable. "If I failed it was not because of the Covid, there must be no false excuses."
If I failed it was not because of the Covid, there must be no false excuses.
Sophiane, 25" A financial disaster "
Masks, hydroalcoholic gel, protective covers ... All this equipment also has a significant financial cost. Arnaud, the manager of the driving school in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, did the accounts and the invoice amounted to 1,200 euros, " only in Covid products ". To balance the balance, the manager had no choice but to downsize. Before the crisis there were four, there are only two left, one of them part-time. " It is a financial disaster for us ", laments Arnaud, who has been sounding the alarm for years because " he classic driving schools suffer in the face of competition from digital platforms and rising fixed costs like car rental, petrol, insurance or premises. "
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The manager calls on the public authorities to come to the aid of " a profession which is dying " and which has " already suffered from the other crises of the quinquennium " like protests against the reform of pensions and yellow vests. When Cdiscount announced a partnership with the start-up " Le license libre " for less than 750 euros, the Parisian manager denounces a flight of students to online platforms to the detriment of conventional driving schools which do very little especially since the privatization of the code review. “ For the permit to be cheaper, taxing us more is not the solution, we must support our finances and encourage quality training and not low-cost. "