The Traffic Police is looking into ways to further make driving tests as comprehensive and more professional as possible to minimise and prevent road accidents, the Commissioner for Traffic and Road Safety, George Rumanzi, has said.

To achieve this dream, Traffic Police department will look into ways to liaise with the private sector, particularly driving schools, to tailor-make training of aspiring motorists.

"We want to empower driving schools and condition people to attend driving courses and acquire certificates authorising them to do final driving tests,” Rumanzi said.

Rumanzi made the announcement in the wake of reports that in the last six months, Police have arrested more than 80 people in connection with using and producing forged driver’s licence.

About 30 motorists have been arrested since the beginning of the year.

He said the option of some sort of strict scrutiny of candidates would be based on best practices elsewhere.

"That’s how it is being done in developed countries, we don’t want someone to come out of their offices and sit on the steering wheel for the tests, some people would be lucky enough and pass but they will lack road-use attitude,” Rumanzi said.

Police regard vigilance on issuing of driver’s licences as key to curbing road accidents.

But the stringent measures are widely seen by the public as responsible for unconventional measures of acquiring driver’s licences such as forgery and bribery of Traffic officers.

‘Driving tests too complicated’

Olivier Muneza, 32, a resident of Kimironko, a Kigali suburb, believes it takes more than luck to pass a driving test.

"They are as difficult as you can imagine. I bet there is no country in Africa where people undergo such hard driving tests as is the cases in Rwanda,” Muneza said.

But Rumanzi sees it otherwise.

"It’s a big no, we do not complicate driving tests, people are just speculators.  We instead choose to make them professional and ensure that whoever gets the driver’s licence actually deserves it. This will definitely help us in ensuring road safety,” Rumanzi said.

"Should you perceive that the driving tests are complicated and opt for unconventional means to acquire a driver’s licence, then we will arrest you and make you pay the price,” Rumanzi warned.

"We recently visited Germany, for example, they will only test someone who has put in so much time to learn how to drive and it should be done the same way here.”

He added that the Rwanda National Police has already moved a proposal to Cabinet seeking to amend traffic rules and regulations.

Under the new amendments, Rumanzi said, no person shall be allowed to sit driving tests without presenting a certificate indicating that they attended a recognised driving school for specified period of time.

"When it’s time for driving tests we are accused of making things difficult, but when accidents occur people turn the ire on us, claiming that Police are too lenient when it comes to giving out driver’s licence, now we say, no room for laxity,” Rumanzi said.

"Most of the people don’t want to learn how to drive intensively, yet they want to drive. People need to give time to attending driving lessons or else they will fail the tests over and over again,” Rumanzi said.

Toward the end of last year and the beginning of the year, a spate of accidents saw drastic measures, including a call from President Kagame to Police to tighten ‘their seat-belts’ and end the carnage.

About the same time, members of the senatorial Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Security recently met Traffic and Road Safety officials.

The committee also embarked on evaluating the state of road safety across the country.

Minimising accidents

Sen. Jeanne d’Arc Makakalisa, the vice chairperson of the senatorial committee, said there should be strict enforcement of traffic laws so that road accidents are minimised, by increasing fines and impounding cars or motorcycles involved in traffic offenses.

The Police will also introduce ‘demerit points’ mechanism, whereby  errant motorists will be deducted of some points whenever they commit a traffic offence. This would eventually lead to the withdrawal of a licence, either on a temporally or permanent basis, depending on the level and nature of offences committed.

Rumanzi said although there are accusations that some police officers engage in corruption cases providing drivers licence to people in unstructured manner, there are also some imposters who con people promising them drivers licence, only to avail them with fake ones.

"There are some Traffic Police officers who have been caught in the act of corruption; however, our stand remains ‘zero tolerance to corruption’. You get caught, we expel you from the Force and also prosecute you. Through such measures, we have managed to curb corruption cases among our police officers,” he said.

"We are fighting imposters as well as fighting those police officers who are engaged in corruption acts in giving out driver’s license.”

Althought tough measures cannot completely end road accidents, Traffic Police and other stakeholders in the enforcement of road safety believe it is a step toward restoring sanity on the roads and reducing carnage. 

There are 217 vehicles, 886 motorcycles and 805 bicycles impounded at Police headquarters in Kacyiru for having been involved in traffic offences.