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UAE aims for standardisation of driving instruction
Source: BI-ME , Author: BI-ME staff
Posted: Wed March 18, 2009 4:52 pm
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UAE. Various driving institutes in the UAE have made efforts to raise training and testing standards.

Driver licensing, testing and training will be standardised across the Emirates to improve road safety, the Ministry of Interior said yesterday.

Licensing procedures vary from emirate to emirate and the ministry’s advisers said the different standards might be a factor in serious traffic accidents.

“We know the training and licensing system in the UAE is a big problem after looking at car crashes data, and there is room for improvement,” said Allan Quimby of the British company Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), which has been hired by the ministry to study the licensing system and suggest improvements.

Quimby said 32.5% of serious road accidents and 37% of road accidents involving injuries in the past five years in Dubai were caused by new drivers. That, he said, “means the way drivers are trained and tested should be assessed”.

He said drivers aged 18 to 27 were responsible for 35% of the accidents, “so we should be looking at ways to teach young drivers how to drive safely”.

TRL will present its study, to be conducted with the Emirates Driving Company, to the Cabinet in July, after which a new policy will be implemented nationwide, said Brigadier General Saeed al Hanki, the director of the police research centre in the Ministry of Interior.

A workshop was held yesterday by TRL and the Emirates Driving Institute, at which traffic officials from each emirate discussed how to unify the licensing system. Quimby outlined some of the major training and licensing differences between the Emirates, such as types of tests, licence categories and test duration.

He said injuries caused by drivers jumping red lights increased 136% in Abu Dhabi from 2007 to 2008, while injuries caused by speeding increased 23%.

Quimby suggested that accidents could be reduced through advanced training and testing methods for drivers.

At the workshop, Abu Dhabi Police suggested limiting driving tests to 15 minutes, while Dubai Roads and Transport Authority officials said examiners should not decide whether someone has passed until 14 minutes of the test have elapsed, because applicants were often nervous.

Fujairah Police suggested a minimum of five minutes, with the option to extend the test to as long as an hour.

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