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Unscrupulous Traffic Police And Rigorous Driving Test
By KTM Metro Reporter
May 21, 2013: if you were sincerely and honestly try to get the driving licenses in Kathmandu it would be impossible but if you have connection that you could make with some payments then you would pass the driving test and you would be able to drive in the chaotic traffic of Kathmandu where nobody bothered to follow the traffic rules because most of the drivers must have received driving licenses not honestly going through the rigorous driving test which was impossible to pass, too.
Today, in the morning we were in front of the Singhadurbar where the National Trading Limited has its bonded warehouse for my son to take the driving test. He had passed the written test yesterday. The driving test takers are not allowed taking their private cars but the traffic police have lined up five private cars for giving the driving tests. The fee the traffic police charged was Rs 93 for driving the car that might be not more than five minutes.
It seemed fine to take such a test. You could drive very slowly and going around the eight-shaped traffic loop, then go to the bumps, and then to the climb, stop at the middle of climb, and then make another climb, and stop then, and then move on a little bit up, and come back in the reverse gear. Finally, you would come to the L-parking where it was impossible to do what the traffic police wanted. You get failed in the test, and needed to wait for another three months before you could take another test.
The test was obviously for passing through the narrow lanes impossible to pass in Kathmandu which most of the drivers did not pass through. Then why the traffic police insisted on you learning to pass through the impossible lanes. The readers could easily understand the motive of the traffic police or the Department of Transport whichever was responsible for such a rigorous driving test.
The traffic police was to enforce the traffic rules, and make the drivers learn safe driving in Kathmandu and elsewhere in Nepal. If you were to pass the driving test and then you were to get the driving license then you needed not follow traffic rules. The traffic in Kathmandu was so chaotic because nobody needed to follow the traffic rules. Drivers bully each other. The large busses and trucks bully the small cars. Motorbikes pass through any possible spot making the cars and others impossible to move forward or backward. Why the traffic police failed in managing the traffic in Kathmandu because the Department of Transport did not insist on the drivers following the traffic rules.
If you flip newspapers you would read the news about accidents mostly with the motorbikes almost every day. The reasons for accidents are not fully learning how to drive and not fully following the traffic rules. Most of the new drivers don’t have the skills in perfect driving as the traffic police have designed to test the new drivers but so many unskilled drivers are on the streets. The traffic police should answer to the people why even after such a rigorous test drivers don’t drive well, and don’t follow the traffic rules. I have seen young ladies hardly knew driving riding scooters in Kathmandu.
The Department of Transport should immediately design a new driving test that would be practical and honest drivers could pass the test. The driving test should be real life driving not the imaginary loop and lanes. In addition, the department should make sure that drivers know the traffic rules perfectly, and if they failed in following the traffic rules means they could kill others and themselves, too. Following the traffic rules, and driving well on the streets of Kathmandu save the lives of drivers and of other people, too; and the traffic police earn the reputation of managing the traffic very well.
Chief of Commission on Investigation into Abuse of Authority Lokman Singh Karki should go and watch how the driving test was conducted at the Singhadurbar Bonded warehouse of the National Trading Limited. In fact, he himself should try to go through the driving test and see whether it is possible for him to pass the driving test. He has ordered the fast service delivery to all State agencies including the Nepal Police. So, he also should go to the Department of Transport at Ekantakuna, and see how the Department has been delivering the services to the seekers of driving licenses, renewal of driving licenses, and the annual payment of vehicle tax rather than just order from his cozy office.
