RTSA closes driving schools

THE Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) has started closing down driving schools that do not meet the stipulated guidelines.
RTSA deputy director for Safety Gladwell Banda said the questionable competence levels of drivers on most roads was an indictment on driving schools.
Mr Banda said 90 per cent of accidents that have happened in the past were as a result of human
error.
Mr Banda said that was why RTSA saw the need to check on the driving schools where drivers were being trained and to ascertain if they were being trained by qualified instructors.
“We need to find out where these drivers are being trained, and if the schools meet the requirements for a driving school as stipulated by the law,” he said.
The RTSA team that included deputy director for Transport Pumi Mfwankila and other senior managers from the licensing department started a three day inspection of driving schools in Lusaka.
The impromptu inspection follows the conclusion of the same exercise in the other provinces were some
driving schools were closed down due to lack of compliance to basic regulations.
Some of the driving schools that were inspected in Lusaka included Wibrema Driving School which has been operating without a licence for over three years while Galaxy driving school was found with a
classroom that did not meet the minimum safety standards required by law.
Malata driving school passed the inspection while some driving schools such as Perfect and Zeki Bize did not meet the required standards.
RTSA has since summoned the owners of the driving schools to report to their offices or risk being blacklisted by the agency.