Drivers across Ontario have been struggling to book road tests for months with the pandemic postponing them at every turn which has created a backlog of those who need road tests.
“The backlog is unbelievable,” said Ginny Loxton, owner and teacher at Findley’s Drivers Education Services.
“I mean, there have been a lot of students whose licenses have expired in waiting from March 2020, up until now,” she said. “I think each time we’ve gone into a lockdown we seem to be catching back up to where we were.”
The Ontario government is trying to remedy the excess of drivers who need road tests by temporarily changing the qualifications needed on the G road test. The G test previous to these changes included a 30-point grading system, parallel parking, hillside parking, and three-point turns.
The updated test has none of those parking maneuvers and is on a 15-point grading system to cut test timing down, in turn, Drive Test centres are able to provide more appointments. Some cities throughout the province have opened up short-term pop-up Drive Test locations to help combat the long queues of road tests at any level.
“They’re putting more emphasis on making sure you’re checking your mirrors and blind spots before turns and lane changes. Other than that what’s missing are the maneuvers and the maneuvers are not always necessary, the G road test is about highway driving.” Loxton said.
Although the Ontario government has decided to streamline the G tests to open up appointment availability, all other driving exams will remain unchanged, and the G2 road test will still include the aforementioned parking maneuvers.
“I think the changes to the test will ultimately make it easier, it’s just removing the elements that have already been tested in the G2,” said Jordon Schaffer, a Humber College HVAC student who is preparing for his road test scheduled for February.
“Since they normally test those skills in the G2, I don’t think that it’s all that bad that they removed them, especially considering the amount of extra tests they are able to do to clear up the backlog,” Schaffer said.
With the parking section of the test gone and the G test focusing more on highway driving, many drivers are concerned that the temporary changes will lead to more inexperienced drivers on the road.
“The skills that are being tested are still the main skills for keeping the road safe, however, parking lots might suffer though,” Schaffer said.
Lauren Murray, an Interior Design student who passed her G road test before the criteria change expressed her concerns about the changes.
“I think the change of taking the parking out is silly, cause how much time does that really save them test wise? If someone who does that test barely passes in the first place, who knows how much danger they’re putting people into,” Murray said. “It has to be a known fact already that a shorter less skillful test will mean more unfit drivers on the roads and that scares me.”
Though the original test rules are planned to be reinstated after March 31, 2022, the Ontario government has the option to extend the temporary criteria based on the waiting list for tests.