Road crashes: Driving instructors decry fraud in issuance of driving licences

DRIVING instructors in the country under the auspices of Association of Driving Instructors of Nigeria (ADIN), on Tuesday, raised the alarm over what it described as disgraceful conspiracies going on at the various driver licence centres where it alleged that applicants for licences were not compelled to go through conventional driving schools for requisite theory and practical training.

They said the fraud was responsible for the alarming rate of road crashes in the country.

Speaking ‎at an international driving instructors conference with the theme, “Fast-tracking Safety on West Africa Roads through Quality Driving Education” in Abuja, the‎ national president of ADIN, Jide Owatunmise, said it was worrisome that a larger percentage of drivers did not know traffic signs and defensive driving techniques as well as implications for violating‎ traffic rules.

He stressed the need for government to ensure that no applicant, no matter the status, obtained driver licence without going through the mandatory trainings in accredited driving schools.

‎Owatunmise urged vehicle inspection officers in the states to establish and implement well-structured theory and practical tests as obtained abroad.

According to him, it should be made mandatory that only those who passed structured and transparent tests qualified for driver licences.

The president advocated for current owners of licence to be made to attend certified refresher training in a driving school as a pre-condition for renewal of licence.

He argued that banning tricycles and motorcycles from operating on highways‎ was not solution to the accidents caused by them.

‎He suggested that such operators be made to go through accredited driving schools for rider’s education as a way to reduce accidents associated with them.