Highlights
- Victoria will resume light vehicle, hazard and learner licence testing from June 15
- Appointments postponed since March 25 due to COVID-19 will be rescheduled, no new appointments to be given yet
- Over 100,000 appointments, including 55,000 for drive tests were postponed
Victoria has announced the resumption of light vehicle and computer-based drive tests from June 15.
The tests to be resumed include light vehicle drive tests (car, ute, van), hazard perception tests and learners’ tests.
These tests will be conducted in stages.
Is VicRoads booking new appointments?
The VicRoads website states that all appointments which were suspended on March 25 due to the coronavirus restrictions, will now be attended to. Such applicants will be contacted by VicRoads to re-book their tests.
No new appointments will be given till further announcements are made. New appointments will only be available once the backlog of postponed tests is cleared.
According to a statement from the Victorian government, more than 100,000 licensing appointments, including 55,000 drive tests were postponed “to protect staff and the community”.
“As part of the resumption, more than 200 new staff will be hired to help work through the postponed appointments as quickly as possible, with testing to resume at all VicRoads testing locations,” the statement mentioned.
VicRoads will be adding six new temporary testing sites to its existing 38 licence testing sites to enhance its testing capacity. The locations will be announced in due course.
Health and hygiene during driving appointments
Based on the latest advice from Victoria’s Chief Health Officer and the Department of Health and Human Services, a range of health and hygiene measures have been outlined to allow drive testing to commence safely, both for the state transport department’s workforce and the public.
“Appropriate cleaning of vehicles used in tests, proper comprehensive hygiene for applicants, instructors and testing officers and the use of disposable seat covers, particularly if the customer is using their own vehicle,” will be the new normal for drive tests.
Speaking about the resumption of drive and computer-based testing, Victoria’s Minister for Roads, Road Safety and the TAC Jaala Pulford said, “we know how important it is to have a driver’s licence, especially for young people who need it for work or study – and we’re now in a position to safely resume testing.”
Extended deadline for overseas licences
Earlier this week, SBS Punjabi had reported that due to the coronavirus restrictions, the deadline for the conversion of international or interstate driver licences had been extended by 12 months to April 29, 2021.
Holders of overseas driver licences like international students amongst other temporary residents of Victoria are likely to find this announcement helpful.
Ramandeep Kaur, an international student who lives in Melbourne, has an overseas driver licence issued in Punjab, her home state in India’s north.
“I’m very happy with this extension. While I did expect an extension, I was very pleased to see that the Department of Transport has given one full year for overseas licences to be converted into Victorian licences,” she said.
Many temporary residents like Ms Kaur who could drive in Victoria with their overseas licences until October 29, 2019, were given six months till April 29, 2020 to convert to Victorian licences.
But due to the coronavirus outbreak, this was not a priority for many people as well as the transport authorities, due to health reasons.
To find out when you must convert to a Victorian licence, visit the VicRoads website.
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