THE ROAD SAFETY Authority (RSA) has said it is experiencing delays with its new online customer portal, which is leading to a lag in responding to calls. 

A spokesperson for the RSA said the online portal, MyRoadSafety, went live in December. The site currently has a queue for access “as a result of exceptional demand”. 

“RSA is currently experiencing delays in contacting its Call Centre. This is related to much higher volumes of activity across both driving tests and driving licences,” the RSA spokesperson said. 

“We are experiencing delays in customers being able to access our customer portal and this is also driving call activity.

“We are working hard to resolve all of these issues and have placed extra resources into our call centre. We apologise to the public for the inconvenience.”

Driving tests are currently restricted for essential workers during Level 5 restrictions. 

Anyone who is not an essential worker is asked to cancel their appointments through the portal. People who choose ‘non-essential worker’ as the reason for their cancellation will not lose their booking fee, the RSA said. 

“The RSA has developed an online portal which is a new way for customers to manage their driving test as well as other services from the RSA such as driver licences,” the RSA spokesperson said.

“The portal will allow customers to apply for and manage their own driving test booking, it will also help to cut down on administration as a learner driver moves from taking a driving test to taking out a full driving licence.”

The spokesperson said there is a “high volume of calls” leading to customers “experiencing longer waiting times”. 

“We apologise for this and we are taking steps to improve this situation,” they said.