Unlicensed driving instructors face makeover
Paucity of examiners available for tests
On the heels of discovering that most driving instructors lack driving licences, the National Council for Road Safety is introducing a new regime next month.
Council Chairman Sisira Kodagoda said all instructors at the 400 driving schools around the country would receive training and be issued with handbooks detailing guidelines that they must follow.
“It is important that a new driver learns from a practically experienced driving instructor,” he said.
He also pointed to a dearth of driving examiners and to complaints that licences are being issued without rigorous checks on driving ability.
There are only 125 driving examiners in the country, according to the Department of Motor Traffic. DMT Commissioner Jagath Chandrasiri said this number would be increased to 150 examiners.
He revealed that the DMT was considering delegating responsibility for issuing driving licences to a number of institutions in order to control the congestion at current centres.
Last year, 369,033 new licences were issued, with a similar number the previous year, the department said.
That meant some 30,000 licences were issued every month by a cadre of 125 examiners.
A driving instructors’ examination held last May had been the first held in 10 years, Mr. Chandrasiri said.
The 552 candidates who had passed the exam would be subjected to a series of further tests before being declared as qualified instructors, he said.
Driving instruction needs modern training methods and a new curriculum to curb the number of road accident deaths, Senior Professor of the Department of Transport and Logistics at the University of Moratuwa Professor Amal Kumarage said.
Other sector leaders joined the call for higher standards of driving instruction.
All-Island Three-Wheeler Drivers’ and Owners’ Association Chairman Sudil Jayaruk said the one-day workshop given to three-wheeler drivers was evidently insufficient given the number of accidents involving such vehicles.
“The driving school concept is like a black market, with a licence issued the moment some money is given to the instructor,” he said.
Ceylon Motorcyclists’ Association President Chirantha Amerasinghe said instructors in driving schools were mostly old and their knowledge and methods were archaic.
He added: “There are complaints of verbal abuse that we receive from people, espe- cially women, due to degrading language used by some driving instructors”.
Lanka Private Bus Association Trade Union Alliance Leader, Stanley Fernando said driving schools lacked ethical standards.
He also called for more centres to be opened for driving tests.
He said bus drivers were generally subjected to scrutiny before licences were issued. “A bus driver is issued the heavy vehicle license after having driven a light vehicle for at least four to five years,” he said.