Learners who had their Practical Driving Assessments (PDAs) cancelled due to COVID-19 are now having their tests rebooked, as the McGowan Government starts to ease restrictions.
Approximately 6,500 learner drivers had their non-essential PDA bookings deferred during the COVID-19 restrictions, while all available tests were prioritised for essential workers such as emergency services employees.
The Department of Transport (DoT) will now start contacting learners that had their PDA cancelled and will ensure they are given priority and booked into the closest available location before any public tests are made available.
DoT is contacting and rebooking all customers who had their PDA cancelled and are asking people to be patient and wait for the department to get in touch with them. It is expected Practical Driving Assessments will return to normal through the following stages:
- Starting now: Cancelled tests to be rebooked;
- By the end of June: Online bookings for PDAs to reopen;
- By the end of July: Backlog of cancelled PDAs expected to be cleared;
- December: Recovery of PDA demand to pre-pandemic levels expected.
To help cater for the additional demand, the Department of Transport will temporarily reopen its Welshpool Examination Centre – which will be a PDA-only centre operating seven days a week with extended opening hours – to ensure demand can be met for both new PDA customers and those who are being rebooked.
It is expected the online PDA booking system, which is accessible through DoTDirect, will become available by late June when all cancelled PDAs have been rebooked.
Around 45 new positions, including driving assessors, have been created to manage the additional tests, with assessors continuing to apply safe health practices during driving.
For the latest information on PDAs, visit https://www.transport.wa.gov.au/covid-19
As stated by Transport Minister Rita Saffioti:
“I want to thank learner drivers for their patience and understanding – these cancellations were an important and necessary precaution.
“The good news is that PDAs can now recommence and I ask people who had their test cancelled to please wait to be contacted by DoT to be rebooked.
“We’ve hired an additional 45 people to help clear the backlog and we’ll be working very hard to return the system back to normal.
“We hope to have contacted and rebooked all those who had their test cancelled by late June and ask that you wait to be contacted by someone from DoT.
“The community should be proud of the success we have seen in controlling the spread of COVID-19 – a result of us all working together.”
