Teen's 11-minute driving test

Teen drivers are gaining their restricted licence in as little as 11 minutes, as testing officers "skimp" on sections of the test.

A Herald on Sunday investigation has found some testing officers are leaving important manoeuvres out of a new restricted licence test as they try to fit in a new fast-driving section. The claims come after a horror week on New Zealand's roads, with 12 people killed, including two children and a hitch-hiker.

Sixteen-year-old Aucklander Shane Mete passed his restricted licence in just 11 minutes at the Westgate testing station last month and said the test was much easier than he expected.

"I got it," Mete said afterwards. "I made a few errors but I was all right. I thought it would be longer."

The testing officer told him he had forgotten to indicate while reversing around a corner.

One former testing officer said a test only 11 minutes long meant serious corners were being cut.

"At a push, I could get it down to 22 minutes - at a real push."

But several driving instructors said it was now common to rush tests.

Just minutes after Mete, Grace Pasia (21) passed her restricted test in less than 20 minutes. It was her third attempt, she said. "It's not really that hard, I'm just too nervous."

Three driving instructors with extensive experience working in Auckland told the Herald on Sunday last week the tests were farcical.

A new, over-70km section was added to the test in July, but testing officers were still expected to complete the route in about 21 minutes, leaving time for a discussion with the candidate. They were paid per test.

"A restricted is a half-hour segment in their day so [rushing] it just means they get some nice paid time off," one instructor said. Instructors said testers were rushing through - or sometimes skipping - sections such as reversing, parking and three-point turns.

"It's actually surprisingly common," said one instructor. "If they decide 'Oh, this person's okay, we'll just nip around the block,' they can."

One instructor spoke of a recent test where the student was "definitely not ready" but was passed anyway. He said that during the test he prayed that the testing officer would fail her.

Afterwards, the testing officer gave him an outline of the test.

"He said things like, 'We went past these cones and she was so close to them I could hear them whistling past my left ear... She came up to some traffic lights and she stopped and they were green.' He rattled through a few things like this - he then told me he was passing her. It's nonsense."

Testing officers are employed by private contractor New Zealand Driver Licensing. Driver Licensing operations manager Gerard Clark said no instructors or testing officers had raised the issue with the company and the new test format was "going very well".

Clark said the company would investigate Mete's 11-minute test but he "would expect" that all 13 assessment requirements had been filled. "We can quite easily find out from the test paper that's handed in."

Land Transport New Zealand media manager Andy Knackstedt said no such concerns had been raised with his organisation, nor had it discovered any evidence of rushed tests.

"[The driving instructors] should act like professionals and bring those concerns to the people who can investigate them properly and take the appropriate action," he said. Land Transport would investigate.

Testing officers are audited four times a year, when supervisors sit in on tests, and their pass/fail statistics are analysed by Driver Licensing.

The allegations come on the back of two Herald on Sunday investigations into the licensing system. In April, cheating and bribery was exposed, with one woman using an earpiece so her husband could talk her through test manoeuvres. Last month it was revealed that testing officers had to mark to a strict quota, and faced the sack if there were too many complaints. Driver Licensing also offered prizes to officers who kept complaints - most of which were from failed drivers - to a minimum.