French driving schools and examiners staged a joint protest in Paris on Monday, September 29, demanding urgent government action to address growing delays and rising costs for obtaining driving licenses. The mobilization, which included driving instructors and inspectors from the Snica-FO union, marked an unprecedented coordinated action between professional driving school organizations and permit examiners.

The protest saw hundreds of driving school vehicles converge on the capital, starting from Porte de Vincennes and proceeding toward Place de la République via Cours de Vincennes, Place de la Nation and Boulevard Voltaire. Paris police anticipated significant traffic disruptions and road congestion from the motorized procession during a weekday, deploying cameras to monitor the demonstration as participants planned to block parts of the city to draw attention to their grievances.

Driving schools point to critical shortages of examiners in some departments as the primary cause of the problem, with waiting times for exam slots reaching six to eight months in areas like Hauts-de-Seine. The situation is particularly acute in Île-de-France, where waiting periods have exceeded 80 days—nearly double the 45-day average established by the 2014 Macron law. The high failure rate of 55.9% in 2023 further compounds the issue, requiring multiple exam attempts and extending the overall process.

Industry representatives are calling for the creation of at least 150 additional examiner positions and propose increasing the mandatory driving instruction from 20 to 28 hours to improve first-time pass rates. They warn that the extended delays create a 'double penalty' for those who fail their exams and raise concerns that some candidates may resort to driving without licenses out of necessity, while others face additional costs from taking extra lessons to maintain their skills during the extended waiting periods.