Poor driving skills blamed on unqualified drivers
A lady listens to an instructor. Whereas we are supposed to learn how to drive cars from registered driving schools, some prospective car owners learn using their cars at home and on public roads. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
Learning how to drive is something some of us find difficult and very challenging while others see it as fun and easy to do. Although driving schools are essentially recommended for all learners, some people regard them as ‘time-wasting’ and feel comfortable learning on their own. Whichever way, there are pros and cons.
Acoording to Uganda Revenue Authority, over 90 cars are registered daily in the country. The number of vehicles being driven on Ugandan roads increased by 100 per cent, this is over 500,000 cars in the last 20 years. Also following an article in the Daily Monitor of March 17, 2013, the Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013 shows that Uganda is amongst the countries with high road accident rates.
This not only arises because of the high rate of drunken drivers today but also because of poor or unqualified drivers in the country. So how do people acquire their driving skills? With others going to driving schools , which is highly recommended, others may tend to utilise the opportunity that their friends or family members own cars so they see no need to go to driving schools.
Dodging driving schools
Stanley Odeke, a third year student at Kyambogo University says he learnt how to drive two years ago. “I have never caused any accident,” says Odeke. He learnt from different people in just one week. He used to go to Buganda Road daily. It appeared like a parking lot but the people there were actually driving instructors who worked under no company.
Odeke used to pay Shs2,000 per hour, every time he went. He recalls being taught by different instructors when he was there; “These people just used to park on the road side like they were cab drivers but always called passersby so they can teach them how to drive. This was done along the same road used by other motorists so it was very busy,” Odeke recalls.According to Hassan Njita the operations manager of Dembe Driving School, one who learns how to drive without going to a driving school should do it in his or her premises and not in a public place.
This is outlawed by the Ministry, because an accident may arise and there is nobody to blame. “Learning how to drive from a friend is nothing because you only get to learn the practical bit of it and a good or qualified driver must have all the basics of driving,” says Njita. Many people take driving lessons from drivers or instructors who are not qualified. This puts one’s life in danger because one is most likely to face road accidents due to poor driving skills.
The costs
“At Dembe Driving School, we charge Shs60,000 for 30 minutes and Shs120,000 per hour,” says Njita. He adds that a full package is Shs650,000 for a full month including the processing of a driving license which is only given to a person who passes the driving tests.
Emmanuel Nsobya, who says he learnt how to drive six years ago during his senior four vacation. “I am better than many people who went through driving schools and wasted their money, I just learned for free,’’ brags Nsobya. He said he has been driving for the past years without a driving license and made sure he wasn’t arrested by the traffic police. Just recently, he paid Shs300,000 for his permit to be processed within a month. He learned how to drive by the help of his father’s driver.
“He always taught me every day after he had brought back my father from work,” Nsobya recalls, claiming he has six year’s experience as a driver. He said that the best thing with using a friend or family to learn driving, is that one gets all the time in the world as long as you have fuel, because he remembers learning for almost two hours every day and for the whole day during the weekends. “The dangerous part is that when friends are teaching you how to drive, they focus on the practical part and leave out the theory,” Nsobya noted. He used to drive but gamble with parking and traffic lights as he used to follow the cars in front until recently when he learned how to use the lights.
Road accidents
Many road accidents in Uganda today are caused by unprofessional drivers says Paul Nsubuga, the Chief instructor at Uganda driving standard Agency (UDSA). He says, according to his research, many people know how to move the car but a few know how to drive. People who think they know how to drive only have just 40 per cent of the skills which literally means they don’t know how to drive.
A good and qualified driver must go through a driving school and follow the procedures. One should also consider which driving school they are going to because some are not registered and it may be dangerous as you might be taught by inexperienced instructors. He mentioned Prestige Driving School as one of the good driving schools in Uganda. Nsubuga says government recommends 30 hours of theory driving lessons and 60 hours of practicals for one to fully acquire driving skills. “At UDSA driving lessons are for Shs490,000 for the whole package. If the period for learning elapses and one didn’t learn or get the basics, they add more money for extra time,” Nsubuga explains.
Unregistered schools
Nsubuga concludes that, in order to reduce road accidents in Uganda due to drivers, people should always take driving lessons from driving schools and not from anywhere else. According to Thomas Babumba the Marketing manager of Automobile Association of Uganda (AA Uganda), if one decides to opt for a friend for driving lessons then that person will not get qualified information.
“At AA Uganda, our instructors must be 25 years of age and above and we train all of them from South Africa,” Bubumba argues. He says, this helps in giving quality driving instructions. Unlike friends, driving schools help in teaching basics for example using the road signs of Uganda and other countries, they also teach driving at night, how the lights are operated and how one can use the car dashboard.
There are also theory classes which tend to be ignored by those who don’t go to driving schools. Theory classes always come before practicals. Because teaching practicals and theory at once tends to confuse the learner. Theory classes run for two hours including knowledge about gadgets, how to operate car pedals, using traffic lights and others.
Driving schools also teach defensive driving. Defensive driving is more of psychology and managing to drive two cars at ago and this doesn’t mean driving them literally. Nsubuga explains that defensive driving includes following someone in the front vehicle, has a route that is supposed to take, you have to go with his pace and you need to know when he/she is going to brake so you do it before him not to cause accidents. AA Uganda also teaches driving under different weather forms which helps someone in case they are weather changes. Bubumba says at AA Uganda, they first check for any sight defect, they then correct it. This helps to reduce road accidents due to poor eye sight especially at night.
According to Don Turyamureeba who learned driving from Saul and Sons Driving School in Kireka, the first day he was showed the different parts of the car. He used to pay Shs50,000 per week for two weeks. The problem he realised with driving schools though is that they tend to teach at a slow pace so that one stays for a longer period and then pays more money.The thing he liked about going to a driving school is that you get mentored by someone with enough driving experience.
