Driving schools censured

Driving schools in Nelson Mandela Bay are not giving students enough lessons to ensure they are prepared for their driver’s licence tests.

Applicants are also showing up at driving licence and testing centres under pressure, nervous and unprepared without the necessary documents, leading to the abysmal 34% pass rate last year.

This is according to a report presented to the metro’s safety and security portfolio committee on Friday. Traffic and licensing director Warren Prins has also blamed Bhisho for delays in issuing driving instructor certificates to driving schools.

In April, the Weekend Post reported that the municipality would probe why so many applicants were failing the test.

Recent figures show that in April only 231 out of 685 applicants passed and 51 did not arrive for the test.

In March, 275 out of 787 passed, with 59 no-shows.

Last year, out of 9 848 applicants across all vehicle class codes, only 3 335 passed, while a whopping 5 456 failed. A total of 1 099 did not pitch up.

The probe also revealed that driving schools did not give enough lessons to applicants, and taught students just enough to pass the yard test.

Prins reported that fly-bynight driving schools were also a problem. “Instructors are not giving enough exposure behind the wheel in traffic,” he said.

“The main problem is the preparedness of applicants and the quality of instructors.

“Benchmarking with other driving licence and testing centres showed that the pass rate is between 30% and 38%.

Prins said the plan was to regulate driving schools by building up a database and ensuring that all driving school instructors were qualified.

As part of his investigation, Prins met with 17 driving schools last month to forge a way forward.

‘The main problem is the preparedness of applicants and the quality of instructors’