Houston DPS centers face long delays for driver's license tests

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Talk about life in the slow lane.

If you are hoping to get your teen driver their very first license get ready to wait, and wait, and wait some more. It's something most parents do not know about.

Edwin Maturan brought his ukulele along with him because he expected to wait as his friend tried to get an appointment for driving test at the Rosenberg DPS Driver License Center.

"She tried to schedule some a lot earlier but she could not get through it because so many people, it's all been like taken up," said Maturan.

Other first time drivers are finding out the same thing, scheduling a driving test in the Houston area takes time. A lot of time.

"We scheduled it in June, no, actually in May and we got the appointment now in July," said Sweta Majmundar.

Parents have to use the DPS computer to schedule a driver's test. Currently the soonest you can get a test in the Houston area is August 5th. The four week wait is not uncommon.

"This was the earliest that I could get," said Majmundar.

There are two license mega centers in Houston, this one in Rosenberg, another in Spring. Both have long wait times for driving tests, but if you drive to the center in Pflugerville, you can get one virtually on demand.

The Texas Department of Public Safety tells us the reason is, "Texas driver license offices are especially busy during the summer. Harris County DL offices conduct an average of 377 drive tests every day."

"This is my driver's license," exclaimed Cinda Cervantes.

Cervantes isn't worried about the wait anymore; she's just passed her test and says the delay actually helped her.

"That way you get more time to learn the roads and if you don't know where you are testing, go around the DPS and kind of explore," said Cervantes.

We talked to a woman getting the learners permit for her son and she had no idea of the wait times for getting the real driver's license. Now she does, and you do too.

But help is one the way! The DPS says a new office - Houston-North Mega Center - is currently under construction at the corner of Dewalt Street and Veterans Memorial Drive to help accommodate the rapidly growing population in Harris County. This office is projected to open by the end of the year.