Reformatting and outsourcing the LTO’s driver’s exam function

LAST week, we raised a number of recommendations – 12 in fact – for the outsourcing of the required written and actual driving tests one needs to secure a driver’s license. Continuing from that, we favor the use of an online exam with instant results and immediate encoding/

- inees to take the written driver’s exam on-line. Pass or fail can be instantly determined and the failing applicant can be encouraged to take the exam again. Once passed, the examinee will be issued a form with a code that the examinee can present so as to be exempted from retaking the written test.

Testing centers for the written exam, meanwhile, must staff expert driving instructors who will take questions after the video showing. ( The instructor should also be able to assist those who

- plicants should be ushered into another room where they will take the official LTO written exam, preferably again by electronic means so the

the exam is administered traditionally, encoding and uploading should be done as soon as possible. The digital file, meanwhile, should always be ready for electronic access by the LTO.

The actual driving exam should be done using autos provided by the contractor running the driving course. The driving courses of Honda, A-1 and the defunct AAP driving school can identify at least 10 basic situations that can be duplicated, normally including:

• A “hanging take-off” from an incline – or the socalled “bitin” -- on at least a 10-percent grade using a manual transmission and clutch.

• Stopping before a zebra crossing.

• Sudden lane change to avoid a running into a pedestrian.

• Stopping before a stop line and four-way stop.

• Executing a left turn from a signal light without a green arrow.

• Parallel parking with correct distance from a corner.

• Reversing out of parallel parking.

• Rapid overtaking.

• Hard braking to a full stop.

must be a reversing course with a trailer on tow. An articulated trailer and tractor head can be provided by the driving course by appointment.

Once the applicant passes, he is given another

of choice. All the agency has to do is print and issue the plastic license. The accredited driving course must upload the passing applicant’s documentation right away so the LTO can process the license. The LTO must determine the minimum number of days before the applicant goes to claim his/her license.

To safeguard against “ghost” or “substitute” examinees other than the named applicant, examinees who pass the online exam will need to present the printed and coded form. To check the identity, the examinee, will also be made to key in replies to three random questions from the same exam he/she took. written exam at the driving course before taking the practical driving exam.

The driving course must have recorded still photos

doing at least three random tests. The image or video must have a time and date stamp and the applicant must be clearly seen in the car or on the motorcycle. This will be included in the driver’s exam records.

LTO employees who used to administer exams, meanwhile, will be retrained as the agency’s inspectors of accredited exam testing centers and driving courses. The LTO should also expand its digital capabilities

encoding and validation of exam results, and also study, create and improve minimum requirements for computerized driving exam simulators. Simulators can substitute for driving courses for as long as the exam has the same questions/situations. and deliver collected data, allow online examina- results prior to issuance of licenses. Moreover, it

approved driving course, whether permanent or established on temporary facilities like a race track, runway or parking lot. This mean the LTO will also have to have a staff of trained driving course inspectors to validate and certify the facilities and the testing procedure conducted on accredited driving courses.

With the outsourcing of driver exams, the LTO can focus on improving both the written and actual driving tests to raise the skills of a legitimately licensed driver. But while outsourcing will expand the reach of driver testing, there is one kind of driver that no exam can second-guess. This is the driver who knows all the rules and can easily follow them, but instead prefers to violate them if he/ she thinks he/ she can get away with it if no one is watching and/or is motivated by trying to put one over another driver. To determine that

psychological tests and also have to delve into the issue of value formation from basic education or moral superiors, matters well beyond the scope of a simple driver’s exam.