Senator Evode Uwizeyimana has suggested that the infamous ‘démarrage en côte’ or ‘hill start’ driving test should be scrapped for automatic cars, describing it as an "archaic exam that is unnecessarily imposed” on owners of such technology-enabled vehicles.

‘Démarrage en côte’ tests one’s hill-starting ability, which focuses on starting a car or other vehicles on an incline on a road (hill).

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Uwizeyimana said that this is one of the factors that might be resulting in some people going to neighbouring countries to fraudulently acquire driving licences, decrying difficulties in access to driving licences in Rwanda, at least according to complaints from some members of the public.

He made the proposal on July 25, during a session with the Senate, in which Infrastructure Minister Ernest Nsabimana was providing explanations about strategies to address challenges identified in preventing road accidents.

"Where is hill start used on automatic cars? These tests fatigue people yet they are irrelevant,” Uwizeyimana said, pointing out that in advanced countries such as Canada, the hill start test is not done.

"A person has bought an automatic car and that is what they will drive. The archaic tests that are not done elsewhere should not still exist here,” he said, suggesting that such a test should be given to a person who owns a (manual) car that requires it.

In case such a licence is available, he pointed out, if its holder is found driving a manual vehicle that requires hill start skills, they should be legally penalised– like a holder of a licence to drive a (small) car, but is caught driving a truck.

Meanwhile, he criticised the delay of a traffic bill that would provide for specific automatic car (computerised) driving licence tests, among other things.

"For almost a year, a bill that was drafted has so far been kept somewhere in a drawer whose owner I don’t know,” Uwizeyimana said.

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In response, Infrastructure Minister Ernest Nsabimana said that the traffic law was being worked on, and "we discussed it with different entities so that it gets expedited.”

Meanwhile, Nsabimana said that a consideration was being made such as to have a transition to ensure a mechanism to use the completed Busanza driving testing centre (in Kicukiro District), indicating that it has quality equipment with advanced technology.

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"We are holding talks with different entities which have a connection to that driving testing centre of Busanza so that people start using it soon. The infrastructure and equipment are available there, such that we hope it will be operational soon and those who want to get automatic car driving licences can access them,” he said.