Covid 19 Omicron: Officials stalling on unvaxxed driver licence test ban, National says

A ban on unvaccinated driving students sitting practical tests is still in place, with the Transport Minister saying instructors are worried about catching Covid-19.

A driver education network has said the current ban was foolish and unsafe.

VTNZ says due to the time a test takes and close proximity of applicants and testers, practical testing is a close contact service under current pandemic response rules. Photo / 123RF

The National Party and the Driving Change Network have said students returning negative rapid antigen test results should be able to take practical driving tests.

Officials have still to decide how to solve the conundrum.

Transport Minister Michael Wood today said a complex set of arguments had to be balanced.

"There's another person who's involved in the scenario, and that is a person sitting in an enclosed space in a small vehicle who is the person doing the training," Wood said.

Transport Minister Michael Wood says the unvaccinated student driver issue is complex. Photo / Mark Mitchell

"And often those people have had a very strong view about this. They have wanted a high level of protection as they go about their work."

He said unvaxxed driving students were a very small group of people.

"Some of these things are just not easy to work through. Obviously, I think it's reasonable we have prioritised health and safety so far."

National's transport spokesman Simeon Brown said officials were stalling on the issue, which had been raised with authorities at least as long ago as November.

He said there was a sizeable group of young and unvaccinated learner drivers.

"We'd like them all to go and get vaccinated, of course, but the reality is some people won't," Brown said today.

"And the reality is, people still need to be able to get practical driver licences completed. It's about ensuring they're driving safely on the roads."

Brown said not every instructor might be willing to have an unvaccinated student, but at the moment none had a choice about it anyway.

National's Simeon Brown says driving instructors should have the choice to work with unvaccinated students who present a negative rapid test result. Photo / Mark Mitchell

"There is an easier solution here, which is requiring those individuals to have a negative rapid antigen test to ensure that the driving instructor is protected in this scenario."

Driving Change Network national co-ordinator Wendy Robertson previously said the arrival of rapid antigen tests meant safe driving tests could now be more accessible.

She said her network was pro-vaccine but failing to make changes to the current rule would lead to unsafe drivers taking to the road out of desperation.

The network has argued rapid tests and the use of face masks, rather than vaccination status, should determine who could get a practical licence test.