Interviewed on August 25, Jean-Louis Larrieu, a motorcycle and car driving instructor since 1995 and the departmental delegate for the Alpes-Maritimes of the National Union of Independent Driving Instructors (UNIC), laments the lack of political investment in the sector.
The various unions, including the National Union of Independent Driving Instructors (UNIC), analyzed the measures of François-Noël Buffet, minister attached to the Minister of the Interior, on August 13. According to them, the minister’s announcements are absolutely inadequate regarding the sector’s issues.
Why do you think there is an insufficiency of inspectors in driving schools?
« The State has never taken responsibility and has never acknowledged a shortage. When the government decides to add 80,000 additional slots nationwide, while there’s a shortfall of 500,000, it’s far from enough. Why don’t they want to acknowledge it? I think they should act, and they don’t want to. There has been an insufficiency of inspectors for 30 years.
Some periods are more challenging, and right now, with the license at 17, this measure has brought us a surplus of individuals. We are in a very critical phase, with departments more affected than ours, it’s true, but we do not have as many slots as we would like, given the people coming to us. Sometimes, we have to make them wait, especially in case of failure.
What do you think of the announcements made by François-Noël Buffet?
It’s 10% of the problem. Out of 108 additional slots, how many departments are there? Out of these 100 administrations, the government announces ten additional inspectors for the entire territory. That amounts to 0.1 examiner per department, which is ridiculous.
What do you want to do to have more examiners, like creating other institutions to train them?
They are civil servants, so the State organizes the training of its agents. They can tweak the training all they want, but there needs to be political will. As long as there isn’t any to solve the problem, they will be lying to people. They don’t want to acknowledge it, everyone talks about it, and journalists are getting involved. Once a week, the topic is on TV.
What needs to be done for politicians to take the issue seriously? They could make the exam payable. Previously, it was the case, today, it costs €30 and the driving test is free. What is paid for is the availability of the driver and the car. Then, no tax stamp is implemented. If there were one, the issue would be resolved. For a student who pays €50 more or less for a driving license costing between €1,500 to €2,000, their situation will change little. This tax would allow complete financing of the inspectors. From this perspective, the sector would benefit from independent funding not derived from taxes.
In the long term, what do you want for the sector?
Whether in the medium or long term, I think the State must recognize the state of the sector; for now, it’s not the case. Perhaps it should refocus on the role of the examiners, we could free up additional hours for them. Some do, but the budget is limited. We could also center it on the B license. Inspectors are often in training and control. There are other times when they are not examining. This is the case for the taxi license, the code for foreigners, the point recovery center… »
