ADI Logo
Carlow Driving Academy
Approved Driving Instructor
You may have seen many driving school adverts or schools cars displaying the ADI logo. You may also have seen the recent Road Safety Authority adverts with the slogan - "If you want to pass your driving test, make sure your instructor has passed ours". However, it's still not public knowledge, what the ADI is about, and what is the standard required to achieve the RSA ADI Qualification.

What is the RSA ADI?

The ADI is a new qualification setup by the Road Safety Authority that came into law on the 30th of April 2009. All driving instructors in Ireland must be ADI certified, or cease trading. It is one of a number of changes to laws that will affect drivers in Ireland. It's main aim is to improve the overall standard of instruction given to new drivers and driving test candidates.

What is required to become an ADI?

There are three intensive stages to to the exam process

Stage 1: Theory Test

The candidate is examined with 80+ questions on various topics which include:

  • Rules of the Road
  • Teaching techniques
  • Driving techniques
  • Assessing disabilities and vehicle adaptations
  • Driving Test proceedures and the Report form
    • and many more varied topics

Stage 2: Driving Test

The candidate must re-take their driving test, examined by a senior RSA driving tester. The ADI driving test is 90 minutes long, covering a wide variety of roads and situations, and many more vehicle manouvers than the standard driving test. The standard driving test allows candidates to make 8 grade 2 mistakes in their 30 minute test, and pass. The ADI exam only allows 4 mistakes in the 90 minutes.

Stage 3: Teaching Test

This is a two part test lasting one hour. The ADI candidate must demonstrate his ability to teach

  • A beginner driver - a specific topic assigned by the examiner
  • A test candidate - must evaluate the faults and help the student in a typical pre-test lesson scenario
The standard required for any of the three stages is very high, but it does not stop there. All fully qualified ADI's must undergo continuous assessment to ensure they retain the required standard. How often each instructor is re-examined will depend on how the ADI candidate performs during each of the three stages of testing. All the Carlow Driving Academy instructors are fully RSA ADI qualified.
Copyright © 2007 Carlow Driving Academy - Road Safety Authority Approved Driving Instructor - F 34489