KOZHIKODE: After the Motor Vehicle Department altered the existing procedures for the driving test by adding a few more complicated moves, not one application has been registered with MVD. This is because applicants coming through various driving schools have kept away from the testing yard, as a symbol of protest against the new move of making the test more complicated under the new reforms introduced from April 1. “Not a single applicant has come forward for the test and it is for the first time our ground is vacant without any driving tests. On an average our department used to conduct more than 100 tests”, said Regional Transport Officer CK Paulson.
He added that as more people had started driving or riding, it was the responsibility of the department to make sure these vehicle users were capable of handling the vehicle. “With just the H track, we won’t be able to judge the capability of people in driving, hence a gradient track has been introduced where they have to take the vehicle to the top of a road and stop it and later proceed to the front, which will be equal to a real time test”, he pointed out. The new driving tests include a three-step screening process including the normal system of taking a H on the track, and the others being a gradient track and parking track tests and 8 track test for motorcycles. “The specialty of the new test practice is that the entire test will be under CCTV surveillance”, Mr Paulson said.
“It is unfair to make the driving test so complicated,’ said Haneesh P, the trainer of Haneesh Driving School here. “The women who come for training are more worried about the new changes introduced and hence keep away from the yard for the test”, he added. Seeking a stay for the MVD’s new driving test, the driving school associations have filed a petition before the Supreme Court. Currently the driving schools in the district are staging an indefinite protest in front of the MVD’s test ground. The new changes has been introduced only in Kozhikode, Kannur and Parashala at present but will be soon expanded to others districts including Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Ernakulam and Alapuzzha. In a few months, more changes and a fully- fledged system will be introduced in the entire procedure of acquiring a driving licence.
