In the canton of Bern, we hope that student drivers who want to take their car license will be able to do so by the end of the year. In fact, in recent months, the wait for an appointment was often four to six weeks. And, for the past few days, there have been almost no slots available for the practical exam. Never seen before in twenty years of career, according to a driving instructor interviewed by the “Berner Zeitung”.
The fault is “a massive lack of personnel”, indicate the authorities. Not to mention that in Bern, as in other cantons, examiners are also responsible for checking vehicles. The Road Traffic Office is training new experts, but it will take time. However, the situation should be less tense from mid-November, the end of the motorcycling season. Those who currently administer the exams on motorcycles will strengthen the workforce.
According to the umbrella organization of driving instructors L-Drive Switzerland, it is rather exceptional that an automobile service does not have delays. But in Neuchâtel the SCAN does not consider itself to be lagging behind, knowing that it “faces the demand for examinations, all categories combined, within three to four weeks, regardless of the number of student drivers”.
No shortage of staff either on the Friborg side, where there is a wait of three to five weeks. Marc Rossier, director of the Traffic and Navigation Office, speaks of a normal delay, considering “that you have to wait at least four to six weeks for an appointment with the dentist, doctor or banker, or even two to three months to see a specialist in the medical field. And that’s not to mention that appointments are regularly canceled, which allows other candidates to obtain, with a little luck, a slot during the week, or even the next day.
Like the canton of Vaud, where “waiting times are less than a month”. “Among the next possibilities for examinations, there is one place left today in Nyon, tomorrow in Yverdon, Friday in Aigle and October 23 in Cossonay,” detailed Pascal Chatagny, head of department within the automobile department, on Tuesday morning. .
