Koforidua to get Municipal Driving School

Plans are far reached by stakeholders in the road and transport sector, particularly the Driving Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA) and National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), to establish a Municipal Driving School in Koforidua, the capital of Eastern Region.

Speaking to the Eastern File, the Regional Director of DVLA, Mr. Vicent K. Fiati, stated that the said organisations had decided to embark on the project, in order to ensure and produce effective, efficient and quality drivers in the country.

Commenting further on the project, which commencement date was not disclosed at the time of filing this report, Mr. Fiati said the project would help to check and improve road safety and safe driving, when completed.

He contributed the spate of road accidents to lack of quality training for drivers, since according to him, most of the drivers did not attend qualified driving schools, but rather what he described as mushroom schools.

In a related development, the Regional DVLA recorded a total of 1,559 of vehicle registrations in 2008, as compared to 122 in 2007.

There was also a sharp increase in the number of drivers who applied for the various categories of driving licenses in 2008.

Out of 2,915 drivers who applied for licenses in 2008, 2,347 received their licenses after passing the various driving examinations, whilst 668 failed their exams, as compared to a total of 2,584 applicants in 2007, with 2,117 passing and 467 failing.

According to the Regional Director, many applicants failed the examination because of the stringent regulations and measures.

He explained that unlike the previous examinations, were everybody was allowed to write, the 2008 exams were only restricted to applicants who could read and write.