If before the Covid it was already tedious to take out your driving license, now you should have patience. More than 300,000 applicants with the theoretical exam passed are pending to pass the practical in Spain, according to estimates by CNAE (National Confederation of Spanish Driving Schools). Already in June, Pere Navarro, director of the DGT (General Directorate of Traffic), announced that during the pandemic 286,000 tests had stopped being made and the stock market did not stop growing.
"Nor is it that in recent years this backpack was to shoot rockets, since it amounted to 40,000 applicants," says Ricardo Cano, president of the Provincial Association of Driving Schools of Madrid (Apamad), but with Covid he has left his mother. In fact, the delay to go to the theorist before the pandemic could be more than 15 days, "but now it will be months," says Cano, who considers that "the DGT is taking correct measures to drain the plug, but they are not enough ”.
Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Lleida, Tarragona and Gipuzkoa are some of the most collapsed areas and, it seems, they have no signs of being solved from today to tomorrow.
Some of the measures taken by the General Directorate of Traffic are that exams will be held in August and an overtime system for examiners has been created, although they are on a voluntary basis. But, in addition, Traffic had an opposition call to incorporate 40 new examiners. The bad thing is that with this break the tests could not be done, which will delay its incorporation until June 2021.
"After two examiner strikes, in 2015 and 2017, and now with this crisis, the situation has worsened a lot," says Enrique Lorca, president of CNAE.
Because although the CAPA (Aptitude Testing Capacity) system, implemented a few months ago by the DGT, which redistributes the number of students that each driving school can present, “has the advantage of knowing more time those who go (previously it was with three or four days), has the drawback that the distribution is made based on the number of examiners who are currently operating, not on actual demand. "
And, precisely now, “the number of examiners is not proportional to the current needs, nor is the administrative staff of the Traffic Headquarters, who prepare the necessary documentation. And it is not acceptable that the appropriate service is not provided, which is also paid by the student, with a rate of 92.20 euros, ”says Lorca.
In Asextra (Association of Traffic Examiners), its president, Joaquín Jiménez Murillo, stresses that “in Spain there are about 850 examiners, but there are hardly 550 real services, because many are vulnerable to the virus, sick leave, vacations, days off disposition, among others ”.
Tracks
Covid. Along with the examiner, who will go in the back seat, only one student per test will be able to go in addition to the teacher; applicants are cited in stages; They must wear gloves and a mask and the test will stop as soon as the student does not declare himself fit.
Permits. Some 600,000 driving licenses were issued in Spain in 2019. Asextra reveals that only 34% of applicants pass the practical test on first call.
In Madrid alone (where there are about 100 examiners) the traffic jam is over 60,000 people, says José Blas Merinero, owner of the Merinero driving school chain. And in Valencia it amounts to more than 40,000 people. "It will take up to a year for the cap to drain, among other things because the bag continues to gain weight for the students who are passing the theory, where there are no such problems," says this businessman.
And is that the CAPA system "only gives each center two dates of practical exam per month in Madrid and we choose the most prepared. This means that you can wait much more than four months to be examined. "
In the theory test there are not so many problems, although the capacity of the classrooms currently allows only 75% of applicants to maintain the safety distance, because more exam shifts have been created.
In addition, one of the problems highlighted by the centers is that now it is not possible to go to Traffic in person. All the documentation and the process of registering student data and fees is done on a telematic platform using a digital signature, which would be very good, according to Merinero, “if it worked correctly, but it gives many errors because it has been implemented without a prior filming and, in the event of any incident, Traffic does not answer because it is overwhelmed ”.
Having a bag of interim examiners that could be thrown away in times of collapse, such as the infirmary or public teaching staff, would be a solution, suggests Lorca. But they also claim in the sector a mixed system in the style of ITVs where "the student could choose between public and private entities to examine themselves" because it would help to avoid these caps.
For Lorca, proof of this is that "before private companies entered the ITV, you spent one morning there, which is resolved in 15 minutes today."
Another obstacle that driving schools have in view is the possible suspension of the compulsory eight-hour classroom training, which included the draft royal decree to reform the Drivers Regulation, after the negative (non-binding) opinion of the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC).
It is not definitive, Pere Navarro has stated that he is not for the work, no matter how much despite the digital driving schools. It would reduce its costs (smaller classrooms and less staff), says Merinero, "but training in road safety would be distorted."
The driving school sector in Spain is very fragmented and up to 100 million euros in business volume have been lost in this crisis, they calculate in CNAE. The closure of 20% of them already plans on this activity.
Joaquín Jiménez Murillo, from Asextra: “It would be a mistake to suppress the eight hours of face-to-face classes”
Joaquín Jiménez Murillo, president of Asextra (examiners) since 2008, has been conducting driving tests for 33 years. He collaborates in the DGT exam quality protocol working group and is coordinator in the training of this group.
How is the jam of the driving tests going to be solved?
The General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) has put all the resources to eliminate it. There will be exams in August; Summer time will not be enjoyed and overtime is being done, despite the high temperatures and the Covid. In addition, the assistant subdivision for road training is distributing itinerant examiners based on the needs of the headquarters.
How long will it take?
It is unpredictable, but to reduce it in the short term we must all collaborate:
DGT, examiners, but also driving schools, presenting only well-prepared applicants because if they fail, they will fatten the waiting lists. It is expected that at the end of the year the group will be provided with more staff.
Are the examiners there enough?
We are about 850. It is an adequate number, although at some times of the year (summer and Christmas) it falls short. For this, exceptional measures such as those explained above are adopted. A template should not be increased by specific moments, it would be a lack of responsibility.
What do you think about the abolition of the compulsory eight hours of theoretical classroom sessions?
I think it would be a great mistake if, in the end, the DGT decides not to implement them by the (non-binding) opinion of the National Competition Market Commission. Road safety is a challenge and training is essential to lower the accident rate.