• Lack of evaluators; 40 trials per day for an evaluator 
• Concerns over lack of regulation of driving schools 

A dearth of evaluators and a lack of regulation of driving schools are creating challenges for the Department of Motor Traffic (DMT), which experts say is contributing to dangerous roads. 

DMT Assistant Commissioner – Technical Sujeewa Tennakoon, speaking to The Sunday Morning, noted that on any given day, an evaluator oversaw about 40 trials, which included verification of identity, estimation of training, verification of documents and medical documents, and a practical drive on a road. 

One reason for this is the high numbers of novice drivers who are sent to the DMT to obtain a licence through driving schools, according to Tennakoon. 

“They don’t give proper training and send in huge numbers. We have now introduced a cap per month and they are not allowed to send more than that. This was implemented last month,” he said. 

Accordingly, driving schools are now permitted to only train 40 novice drivers per month. Additionally, the DMT plans to issue a new gazette to better regulate driving schools by mandating them to increase their learning spaces and include a simulator test.

“This will improve their standards,” said the Assistant Commissioner. 

According to Tennakoon, approximately 250,000 new driving licences are issued per year. 

Engineering, education, enforcement 

University of Moratuwa (UOM) Department of Transport Management and Logistics Engineering (TMLE) Senior Lecturer Dr. T. Sivakumar said that improving overall road safety meant improving engineering, education, and enforcement. 

“Engineering has improved, but I don’t think any considerable improvements have happened to the education and enforcement aspects,” he said, highlighting that the conversation regarding road safety must be ingrained in day-to-day lives. 

“It won’t be an overnight change, but we need to have a tight, stringent system to issue a driving licence. Driving is more serious and dangerous than many other technical skills. 

“According to physics, a vehicle driving at 30-35 km/h can kill a person. This shows the gravity of this machine we are handing over to people with minimal hours of training. We need to seriously reform training schools, train the trainers, and finally, improve the process of issuing licences.” 

‘Pathetic situation’

Speaking to The Sunday Morning, former Dean of the Moratuwa University Department of TMLE S. Nandalal Bentotage used examples from the UK and Japan to highlight the “pathetic situation” when issuing licences in Sri Lanka. 

Training of drivers in the UK includes the use of all gears, speeding up to 110 km/h, lane discipline, emergency braking, and correct parking techniques. 

“They test drivers for every aspect during the trial. This ensures confident drivers once they pass the driving test,” Bentotage noted. 

However, in contrast, Sri Lankan drivers lack confidence, which leads to many accidents. “Accidents can happen because people are scared to drive at high speed, so when they drive too slowly, drivers behind them attempt to overtake and cause accidents. Accidents are caused by this tension.”

“Our drivers aren’t trained and their capabilities aren’t checked during the examination. In Japan, for instance, training of drivers comes under the authority of the Police in a yard built for training purposes, with rail crossings, pedestrian crossings, etc. In our country, drivers are ‘mass produced’ and only taught to drive a vehicle, but not about safety concerns and driving techniques,” said Bentotage. 

Improving evaluation 

Moratuwa University Department of Civil Engineering Professor H.R. Pasindu, who has studied and worked on road safety since 2017, noted that the solution lay at the evaluation stage. 

“If evaluations are done properly, then schools that don’t train properly will gradually lose business due to failures. The root cause of this problem is poor evaluation.” 

He also criticised the type of knowledge tested in the written exam as being insufficient, recommending that the questionnaire database be expanded to “cover all knowledge and skill areas needed by drivers”. 

“The practical part of the evaluation process has to be more transparent. A lot of the time, the issue is that control is under the hands of the supervisor and no one checks whether he has done a thorough evaluation. That’s where corruption may happen,” said Prof. Pasindu. 

He also noted that the testing process was not rigorous enough. “We test them on the roads, limiting the possibility of testing all skills thoroughly. The evaluation process must be comprehensive, covering all aspects of driving such as parking, reversing, changing lanes, and reacting to different road signs and instructions. 

“Having dedicated test tracks and training facilities will enable this process. This process can be made transparent with on-board cameras and records of test performance updated in a database for auditing.”

Accordingly, Prof. Pasindu highlighted the need for a system with minimal room for corruption in order to improve overall road safety in Sri Lanka. 

“A mechanism is there to monitor training schools, but it should be improved to standardise the quality of these schools,” he further added.

Deputy Minister of Transport and Highways Prasanna Gunasena told The Sunday Morning that discussions were underway to introduce new regulations to the entire transport sector, including driving schools.