Own Correspondent
20th October 2020
The intelligent driver testing system facility in Maru-a-Pula, designed to improve driver training and testing in Botswana thereby helping to reduce road accidents was conceived as a result of government strategic intentions outlined in the National Road Safety Strategy officials revealed Tuesday.
This technology is currently in use and fully utilized in some of the highly industrialized countries such as the Republic of Georgia, Russia, China and Malaysia and has proven to be effective. In Africa, very soon Rwanda would be launching the same testing facility like Botswana.
“This testing facility, among other initiatives already in place, is deemed necessary to meet such objectives as it is fully computerized with checks and balances to eliminate corrupt practices, reduce human error or manipulation, facilitate free, fair and transparent testing and overall, improve operational efficiency and customer service,” said Thulagano Segokgo, Minister of Transport and Communications
He said, “This facility entails full computerization of the testing ground with all the driving disciplines in the yard test (closed area) conducted through the computer.”
According to officials the majority of the road test parameters are computerized, leaving only a few non-automated ones, subject to manual input such as learner driver observations and response to emergency situations just to name a few.
Given the setup of this testing facility, government-owned vehicles fitted with computerized gadgets linked to the system are used to facilitate driver testing for candidates at no cost.
The facility was constructed in line with the United Nations Global plan for Road safety, which called upon Governments to develop and implement strategies geared towards reducing road crashes by half by the year 2020. Botswana Government as a signatory is no exception and therefore it is believed that the driver testing system will assist efforts to improve both driver testing processes and training.
“I regret to inform you that from January this year, to date, we have already lost 237 people on our roads due to reckless driving, and in some instances the traffic accidents analysis shows that drivers are at fault. This is a cause for concern and thus calls for our concerted effort at local, national, regional and international levels to address this grave situation,” said Segokgo.
He said, “The establishment of this facility is a clear commitment towards critical transformation in order to meet the international standards of driving and Botswana is indeed a trailblazer in the African continent as far as driver training is concerned. Currently the Department is going through a huge transformation of accrediting DRTS as an assessment center and awarding body. This entails the accreditation of Driver Examiners as well as the Learning programmes as per Botswana Qualifications Authority standards.”
The first candidates who were tested and acquired their driver licenses through the Intelligent Driver Testing System attended the official unveiling of the testing facility. They will serve as road safety ambassadors in Botswana and allegedly apply their driving skills acquired from this facility in a manner that promotes acceptable road user behavior and safety.
