The unified driving curriculum will be implemented soon, possibly by early next month and its experimental phase has been successfully completed.

The aim of the new curriculum, which will be implemented in all driving schools in Qatar, is to completely regulate the training. “The General Directorate of Traffic is always seeking to introduce all developed things for these schools and they have witnessed a lot of up-gradation compared to the previous years,” said Mohamed Al Zain Ibrahim, Executive Manager of Gulf  Driving School.

In an interview with The Peninsula he said that the most important characteristic of the new unified curriculum is that it imposes monitoring control on the driving schools in terms of subject of training such as entry and exit and the number of hours that the trainee will take so that the department will know that trainees enjoying complete rights at the school.

He said that the Traffic Department will be supervising the curriculum through a third party, a company having expertise in driving training and that company would have representatives in each school. “The company will issue special cards for each trainee and trainer.”

Mohamed Al Zain Ibrahim, Executive Manager, Gulf Driving School. Pic: Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula

The Department said earlier that is has tightened mechanisms of issuing driving licence and the aim is to decrease the rate of injuries and deaths resulting from traffic accidents.

The curriculum was developed on the basis of training and international standards and removes the chances of manipulation related to driving test and it records total hours required from a trainee to must attend.

To make driving training more effective, an official at the Department had earlier told The Peninsula that the department was preparing a unified curriculum in more than 18 languages which are commonly used in Qatar instead of the existing 10 languages.

The unified system will make tests more easier for people, especially the ones who are not educated because when they will be taught traffic laws in their languages they will understand them better.

Responding to a question regarding the demand of light driving license compared to heavy licenses, Al Zain said that the demand on light driving license is high with a long waiting list.

“It depends on the time and period chosen by the trainee. There is a great demand for registration especially in the evening shifts.”

On the subject of the categories of jobs which are banned from getting car driving license and how that affects the demand, he said many people from banned categories were getting transport facility from their companies, therefore, getting a driving license was not necessary for them.

Al Zain said that the General Directorate of Traffic is keen that the trainees must know Qatari traffic rules fully, especially the most common traffic violations.