DSSAA To Work With Member Schools, National Regulators To Improve Driving Schools - Dr. Eke

Dr. Confidence Eke, the Chairperson of Driving Schools and Safety Alliance Africa, DSSAA, in this interview with OLORUNDARE ENIMOLA harps on the need to standardize Driving School Structures and Training for optimum impact. Excerpts   

In our last Interview you blamed poor Driving School training as the bane of Road Safety in Africa, there has been a lot of reactions. Can you elaborate more on what you mean by poor Driving School training?

I know that much of the reactions are coming from Driving School Operators in Nigeria because in the other African platforms that I belong to, there was no serious backlash to that Interview like you witnessed in Nigeria. I want to assure the Driving School Operators in Nigeria that my intention is not to take them out of business but to consolidate their businesses by discouraging an all comers ease of entry into the Learner Driver Training sector. You have to understand that this is a sector everyone should not easily gain entry into in the interest of public Safety. It is not everyone that secures an Admission into the medical school that eventually graduates as a Medical Doctor.

Now, let us look at what prompted my view in the first place; go and take a second look at the WHO Global Status Reports on Road Safety, while there is a decline in the mortality statistics of other Continents that of Africa keeps rising since 2010.

What lapses did you see in the system that influenced your views?

Across Africa, the training subjects and modules are not the problem but the process and Regulatory oversights. Secondly, what are the criteria to qualify as an Instructor because the blind cannot be leading the blind. In Nigeria for instance, the DSSP Portal operated by the Federal Road Safety Corps mandatorily requires a daily logging of Classroom, on the Road and Examination records of Learner Drivers. Now, are these hours of training and weekly trainings done?

The FRSC in Nigeria prescribes a total of 26 hours mandatory Training, the VID in Zimbabwe prescribes different sessions based on License class, the DVLA in Ghana prescribes 48 hours while the DLTC in South Africa prescribes 25 hours. With the rising energy costs, are Driving Schools complying with the recommended hours of on the Road training? What technologies are in place to discourage the Schools from logging training that never took place? How do you ensure that the Learner Driver takes the periodic examinations and will have training sessions elongated if the examinations are failed?

The only way to ensure that the Schools do not cut corners is through a stringent testing regime for their Learner Students. In Nigeria for instance the Learner Driver is subjected to an objective type Online Test supervised by the same Driving School that trained him or her. So do you expect the Learner Driver to fail?

How about the qualification and standard of the driving School Instructors?

The Ideal situation globally is that you must hold a Crash -free driver's License for some years before you qualify to undergo training as a Driving School Instructor. Again, it is only Zimbabwe that has the proper template for now. The TSCZ(Traffic Safety council of Zimbabwe) requires that you must be a holder of a 5 years minimum Driver's License with a 2 years crash free history preceding your year of Driver Instructor training Registration.

Most importantly, you are expected to undertake a rigorous Theory and Practical training and be under supervision for 12 months before qualifying as an Instructor. Ghana and South Africa come close in terms of standardization. In Ghana, before becoming an Instructor you must hold a Special Category C Licence and must undertake the DSB and HCT Courses. South Africa requires a criminal record check by the South Africa Police Service.

What solutions are you proffering as an Expert?

First, a holistic review of the entry requirements for Driving Instructors should be undertaken by the Regulatory Authorities across Africa. Before you are admitted into the Medical School there are strict Academic requirements in terms of certificates, level of education and Subject areas.

I recommend that a Diploma in a Transport related discipline should be the minimum Academic Entry requirement to become a Driving School Instructor because of the sensitive nature of the profession. Secondly, Driving School Owners should be separated from Driving Instructors.

Driving Schools must then be compelled to employ only Licensed Instructors to manage learning at the various Driving Schools and Persons registering to be trained by Driving Schools should be adequately sensitized to demand for a License Instructor before training.

This is where the Government needs to come in to subsidize transitioning to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or Electric Vehicles (EVs). Simulators are also critically required to manage the problem of mandatory driving hours by Learner Drivers; unfortunately most Driving Schools in Africa cannot afford this.

My Organization, DSSAA had a series of meetings with Thivash Moodley, one the Manufacturers of Simulators in Africa on how we can arrange concessionary bulk purchase rates for our Member Schools.

In the following weeks, I will be working with our Country Directors in different African countries on how to open up discussions with National Governments on a funding support framework for purchase of simulators.

The last and most important way of improving Driving School training is to develop a reliable Post training test template that will not be supervised by the Driving Schools which must include practical on the Road training. The National Governments in Africa must urgently address the looming disaster in the Trucks and Tanker Drivers sector resulting from a zero training template.

In Africa, 70% of Truck Drivers were trained informally by Drivers they were working with as Motor Assistants.  In some African Countries, there are no Truck Driver's Training Schools up till now. Again, the Driving Schools and Safety Alliance Africa -DSSAA is at an advanced stage of discussion with the Truck Training Schools Association of Ontario Canada (TTSAO) on mutual Collaboration in developing a training certification for Instructors. We also recently signed an MOU with the EFA - European Union Driving Schools Association on a training partnership.

In summary, if you address the issue of Requirements for Instructorship, proper training for Instructors, Licencing of Instructors and a properly structured system of Post driving school testing for would-be Drivers, you will significantly reduce the Spate of crashes in Africa.

I have witnessed situations where Driver's License holders from African Countries are unable to obtain Driver's Licenses in Europe and Canada when they migrate. So, can you not see the link between poor Driving School training and the crash incidents in Africa?

What is your advice to Driving School Operators in Nigeria?

My advice to Driving School Operators in Nigeria is that they should embrace change. I have repeatedly said that change is a constant variable that you can never stop. How are you adjusting to new automobile designs? How can you leverage artificial intelligence and modern software in enhancing standards? 

Today, from dual control braking systems to Telematics and IVMS, the tools of Driving Instructorship are becoming more automated. One of the benefits that Driving Schools in Africa will get with the establishment of DSSAA is the peer review mechanism we are putting in place to help Countries whose standards are low to upgrade with fewer difficulties.