Victorians will be able to sit their drivers' licence tests from Monday after 100,000 appointments were postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Learner permit and driving licence tests were cancelled on March 25 under the directive of the Victorian Chief Health Officer.
More than 100,000 people had their licensing appointments cancelled including 55,000 people booked in to sit driving tests.
Six new temporary licence testing sites will be set up and 220 new VicRoads staff will be employed to handle the backlog.
Extra hygiene measures
Vehicles must be thoroughly cleaned and testing officers will use disposable seat covers to minimise the spread of COVID-19.
Test candidates will be asked to wear face masks.
Anyone who had their appointment cancelled will be contacted by VicRoads directly and new appointments will be made in order of cancellation.
Roads Minister Jaala Pulford said testing would triple each week at the state's 38 driving test centres to get as many Victorians back on the road as possible.
"We're asking people to be patient for a little longer," she said.
"If you had an appointment that was cancelled, don't call. You will be contacted and you will be scheduled in the order you already were."
The Department of Transport will extend the operating hours of VicRoads testing sites to try to clear the backlog within the next three months.
"So over the coming weeks and months we're looking to introduce Saturday bookings as well," head of transport services Jeroen Weimar said.
Regional drivers disadvantaged
The Victorian Government has been under pressure to resume licence testing, especially in regional and rural areas where residents have limited access to public transport.
Regional Victorians had to prove there were exceptional circumstances in order to sit their drivers licence test in suburban Melbourne at Pakenham, Deer Park, Werribee or Mooroolbark.
But young learner drivers in regional towns who had rarely driven in the city said they felt unfairly disadvantaged by that arrangement.
Darcy Davis, 18, of Heyfield was able to prove that he needed his licence for work so, under a COVID-19 hardship exemption, he was granted dispensation to do his test.
Despite being an accomplished learner driver, he failed his test.
Jeff Robbins of Stradbroke said his son and his friends in Year 12 had been hanging out to get their licences.
"Especially for country kids, it's really tough, they need work, and there are no public transport alternatives, it's a little bit strange that they didn't have that exemption testing in the country," Mr Robbins said.
Allison Welch from Rosedale was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis last year and had been waiting for an appointment to get her licence reinstated.
But her driving lessons were cancelled because her instructors were not allowed to leave their towns to conduct lessons.
"It gets very complicated when I can't do any driving lessons to get my licence reinstated," Ms Welch said.
"And I am doubly stuck because I have to do it in a dual-controlled car so I am restricted in terms of which instructors I can use and I only have until July to get my licence back."
