LAHORE: The Traffic Police Punjab has allowed failed candidates to reappear for the driving test after two weeks instead of earlier six weeks.

The department has issued a notification after the Punjab Cabinet approved amendments to the Punjab Motor Vehicle Rules 1969. It has directed the traffic police to follow the new instructions.

The police high-ups believe that if the new amendments are implemented in letter and spirit, thousands of citizens would get a major relief. There were complaints that a large number of citizens were disqualified by the licensing staff at the driving test centres over petty mistakes. Consequently, these citizens were to wait for six weeks to reappear in the driving test. The traffic police received complaints and demands to review the long gap between the first attempt in the test and the second one to get regular driving licences.

An official said the learning permit was issued to each citizen for a period of six months to appear for the test driving. The number of candidates qualified to appear for the driving test to obtain the regular permit reached 360,000 after every six months period since the start of the online licence system.

Sharing statistics, the officer said the traffic police had issued a total 10.2m driving licenses all over the province last year. This number was reported to be 3m during the first four months of 2024, he said, adding that presently 100 driving test centres were providing facilities to the citizens across Punjab.

The department has proposed a new scheme to include 28 driving schools of Punjab too to take the total number of testing centres to 130.

Keeping in view the problems of the citizens, Additional IG Traffic Mirza Faran Baig held a series of meetings and finally moved a summary to the Punjab government proposing amendments to the rules. The home department forwarded it to the Punjab government.

After detailed deliberations, the Cabinet endorsed the proposal of the traffic police and accorded approval to reduce the period from six weeks to the two weeks only to reappear in the driving test.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2024