ASSESSMENT SHORTAGE DRIVES PEOPLE TO REMOTE AREAS

Credit: Envato Elements.

The waiting time to get a driving assessment in WA’s urban centers and cities is forcing people to travel to remote areas to take their driving tests. 

Outback Driving Academy Owner and Driving Assessor Angela Wilmot operates a driving school in the remote Pilbara town of Newman. 

She said people are flooding from cities into rural areas just to complete driving assessments. 

She says the driving assessment shortage creates social problems when full driving licenses are inaccessible. 

“We’re feeling the impact in Newman, because we are having more and more people driving in and flying in specifically to do their driving assessment,” she said.

“It’s definitely an area that the government has to look at seriously. It [creates] criminal offenses, when people are not doing the right things on the roads and holding full licenses. There’s a definite need to be addressing these things.”