A North Vancouver mother is calling on ICBC to extend drivers’ learner’s licences as the public insurer faces a massive backlog in applicants for road testing under COVID-19.
Lori-Anne Martin’s son Liam was one of tens of thousands of British Columbians who logged on to ICBC’s system this week to book a road test.
But the 18-year-old ran into trouble immediately. He wasn’t able to secure a road test in the next two months — but his learner’s licence will expire on Sept. 3.
That meant he was unable to book the road test, and had to get into the growing queue of people booking for a new learner’s knowledge test instead.
“It’s totally unfair. It’s not his fault or these other people’s fault, it’s due to the world shutting down,” she said.
“They should just extend (learner’s licences) for the amount of time they were closed.”
BC Liberal MLA and ICBC critic Jas Johal accused the NDP government of botching the road test roll-out, and said the Crown corporation and the province should apologize to families like the Martins.
“It’s absurd; it’s bureaucracy run amok. The simplest answer to this is just to extend the learner’s permit,” he said.
“This is not a shock, they should have been prepared for this just like other provinces. But when you have to book a test and it’s going to be in January, or you have to drive 800 kilometres to the nearest town to take a test, somebody has messed up.”
ICBC says more than 32,000 people have logged on to book a road test since Monday, and is asking drivers to be patient.
The public insurer says it has also added 100 driver examiners and several temporary test locations, and will add 2,000 more test bookings in September. Another 6,000 will be added in the following weeks, it said.
But the Crown corporation said that extending learner’s licences is outside of its powers.
“ICBC does not have the ability to extend the licence because it’s actually written in legislation,” said spokesperson Joanna Linsangan.
“We hear you, we understand your frustrations and we’ve been doing our very best to address the backlog.
While Liam has booked a new knowledge test, the family is also trying a strategy employed by other B.C. residents unable to secure a timely test in the Lower Mainland: a road test road trip.
Martin was able to find a Sept. 3 test in Nelson, an eight-hour drive from the Lower Mainland — but says the exam will be high stakes for her son, given that it will be months before he can try again if he fails.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” she said. “We do have a fellow coming for a few days just to give him some extra lessons.”