No clear roadmap on driving tests
ICBC cancelled appointments due to pandemic
Driving instructor Kiran Dulay’s students were waiting up to three months to get an ICBC road test before March 17 when the agency suspended exams due to COVID-19.
“We have lots of students who (had) already booked their road tests, then ICBC cancelled last month,” said Dulay, owner of Arrow Driving School in Surrey.
Now, however, road tests are listed as “suspended indefinitely” on the COVID-19 information page of ICBC’s website, with little indication of when they might resume for the thousands of student drivers accumulating in the backlog.
Dulay heard back from one student who tried to rebook,"(and ICBC) said they don’t have any idea when they’re going to start.”
No one from ICBC was made available for comment but in an emailed response spokeswoman Lindsay Wilkins said they’re “aware that the demand for road testing is high and (are) currently looking at how best to minimize the impact of road-test backlogs.”
“We’re following the guidance of the provincial health officer and actively working with WorkSafeBC to find a way to resume road tests in a way that ensures the health and safety of our customers and examiners,” Wilkins said.
Wilkins didn’t have a number for tests that have been cancelled so far, but by comparison, in 2019, ICBC conducted an average of 20,800 road tests per month, including 9,500 Class 5 and almost 8,900 Class 7 tests.
As of May 4, ICBC resumed in-office knowledge tests for some drivers, with the adoption of new distancing and sanitization protocols, but only by appointment at select locations.
Those with Class 5, or Class 8 learner’s, licenses that expired on or after March 1, or are due to expire within two weeks of when they call ICBC, will be eligible to book an appointment for a knowledge test.
Those whose learner’s permits expired on or after March 17 when road tests were suspended don’t have to pay a fee for their first knowledge test.
New B.C. residents, who face mandatory requirements to change licences, and all commercial-class learners, can also book knowledge tests, Wilkins said.
And all road-test cancellation fees are waived, since the suspension was due to
COVID-19.
In the meantime, Dulay hasn’t heard back from her inquiries to ICBC, she emailed last week and called early this week, about what is going to come next, though customers are getting the impression something will happen soon.
“(Customers) keep asking, When?’ ” Dulay said. “We don’t know, (if it will be) middle of June, middle of July. We don’t know.”
Driving schools have been off the road since early March, like many other personal-service businesses, said Ashraf Siddiqui, owner of Vancouver Driving School.
And like most sectors, driving schools are left to consult with WorkSafeBC and the B.C. Centre for Disease Control on guidelines to resume operations.
“You don’t want anybody (to feel unsafe), especially the instructors and students,” Siddiqui said. “So we’ll try to take all the major precautions once we are back.”
However, his students faced long waits before the pandemic. “I don’t know how ICBC is going to handle it,” Siddiqui said.