Police issue new rules on driving permit tests

Police have stopped individual applications for driving permit tests in a bid to fight corruption and create transparency.
Instead, the learner drivers must first register and train with licenced driving schools, who will present them to the police Inspectorate of Vehicles (IOVs) for examination.
Traffic police and inspectors of vehicles commanders said the new system is intended to ensure learner drivers go through the required training and also stop collusion between individuals and certain officers.

The spokesperson of the Directorate of Police Traffic and Road Safety, Mr Charles Ssebambuliridde, yesterday confirmed the changes but referred us to the Inspector of Vehicles,  Mr Sulaiman Kirungi, for more details.
Mr Kirungi said the changes are part of the reform at IOV to enforce traffic standards that will bring discipline on the road.

“We have been able to help the driving schools to organise them and also provide them with training. So a learner driver should go to the driving school where he or she will train in driving. The driving school will send the students’ applications to the IOV. The instructor must come with his or her students for the tests,” Mr Kirungi said.
Previously, the learner drivers have been applying as individuals to be tested in driving. However, road safety experts say many learner drivers are trained by people ignorant of the traffic regulations and in the end it leads to indiscipline on the roads. 
 
Some learner drivers have been bribing their way to getting the permits even without undergoing tests.
Mr Kirungi said the new system will stop corrupt middlemen, who have been crowding around their centres, waiting to connect learner drivers to errant inspectors.
“The driving tests are done while the instructor is around. This helps the learner and the instructor to know the assessment. None will lie to each other about the test and the assessment results,” he said.

Mr Innocent Muhangi, the general manager of Uganda Driving Standards Agency, said the policy is not new since it has been in the traffic laws, but it had not been implemented.
In 2020, the IOV tested 63,079 drivers countrywide despite the country being under lockdown over coronavirus.