The altered beginner’s driver training conception still cripples driving schools

KLAIPEDA - If you are ready to gain your independence and get out on the road, it might be more challenging than ever before. Soon, your ambition to twirl the wheel will be considerably aggravated by the adoption of the much-discussed would-be driver’s training conception. This will significantly stiffen the preparation course of future drivers, emphasizing the role of the driving schools and seeking their greater accountability. Some driving schools complain that they will not be able to meet the new requirements and will have to close down eventually. It is estimated that there are nearly 320 driving schools in the country.

However, despite the outcry, the Ministry  of Transport and Communications aims at reducing driving exam failures in “Regitra,” the state-run agency in charge of testing would-be drivers. It is estimated that one third of “Regitra” applicants fail their first driving exam. This is a major concern to the Ministry. It blames the driving schools for not being able to prepare rookie drivers properly for road challenges.

Thus, in order to ensure better quality of the readiness for “Regitra” exams, initiators of the new conception initially demanded to install video cameras and other driving data recording gadgets in the training cars. In addition, according to this, if more than 20 percent of driving school graduates fail the second driving attempt at “Regitra,” the school’s license, according to the conception, could be revoked.

Officials at the Safe Traffic Department of the Ministry are convinced that such stiff new requirements are necessary. Some officials blame driving schools for hiring unprofessional driving instructors. It is a widely spread practice that many driving school instructors, in order to cut fuel expenses and lessen car depreciation, make up phony driving hours, filling in fictional hours.

The Ministry also suggests improving driving exam evaluation criteria, emphasizing an ability to drive the car safely. Besides, according to the new conception, stiffer requirements will be set for driving school instructors, asking them to improve their qualification yearly. Would-be driving instructors soon may be required to obtain a certain technical or other driving-related education in order to sit next to the beginner driver. In the near future, during the driving exam at “Regitra,” the driving school instructors’ participation may be mandatory. In addition, the exam at “Regitra” may be video recorded soon. Other suggestions include video taping driving school classes and forbidding using training cars older than ten years.

By implementing the strict measures, the Ministry aims at increasing the beginner driver’s preparation for road challenges. Heads of driving schools argue that the new order aims at ruining the schools, singling out a few Ministry of Transport and Communications-favored driving schools.

There were fears that with adoption of the new order, out of 320 driving schools, only about 50 driving schools would meet the new requirements. Such a situation would have boosted the driving school competition and, consequently, hiked up the driver-training fee, from 800 - 900 litas (260 euros) up to 2,000 litas. Some driving school owners have estimated that, in this scenario, the rest of the schools would have shared a lump sum of 100 million litas, thus, triggering speculation that the Ministry promotes only certain driving schools.

The conception was to go into effect from June 1. However, its deliberations have caused an outcry from all driving schools and other driving related establishments, putting off its implementation indefinitely.
Valentinas Masilionis, head of Lithuania’s Association of Driver Training and Qualification Promoting Schools, speaking to a daily a few months ago, criticized the outlined conception harshly, calling it “unperceivable and illogical.” Masilionis fumed recently that “It is illogical to set the 20 percent driving exam failure limit upon which a driving school’s license can be revoked. If somebody, following the suggestion, sought shutting down the universities, graduates of which stay jobless, it would sound ridiculous and illogical. However, when it comes to the driving schools, for some brainpower, this looks acceptable.”

He fretted over the Ministry’s urge to use no older than ten-year-old cars for driver training and the demand to install video cameras in the classrooms. “I cannot understand what the schools will have to do with the cars older than ten years. Will they have to bring them to clunker sites? The demand to install the cameras is, frankly speaking, weird. Cameras cost big money, and not every school will be able to obtain them. More importantly, no one has ever proved that videotaped training produces better drivers. No other EU country does that,” Masilionis said.

He argues that, according to the data of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, beginning drivers tend to have an accident not in the first year of their driving, but in the second. “It shows that, generally speaking, all driving schools prepare would-be drivers quite well. The increase of car accidents during the second year could be explained from a psychological point of view, as most rookie drivers tend to over exaggerate their skills after the first year on the road,” Masilionis maintained.

Some suggest that the Ministry itself should be accountable for the deteriorating situation on the roads, as it issues licenses for new driving schools, skipping background checks. However, it seems that the Ministry is giving in to the outcry of the schools. On Monday, asked by The Baltic Times about the latest developments in the harshly criticized conception, Masilionis sounded relieved, asserting that “The Ministry could not withstand the harsh criticism and had to give in.”
According to him, many previous proposals have been scratched out from the conception. Thus, the no-older-than-ten-year-old vehicle requirement will be mandatory only to the driving schools preparing drivers for the B driving category. The demand to install video cameras in classrooms has been lifted as well, leaving it valid only for B category cars.

However, some stiff and hardly realizable requirements remain. Thus, every driving school will have to build its own special two-hectare driving site with several ramps and slopes. Soon, driving school instructors will be obliged to seek a university or college degree, otherwise they will risk being laid off.
Acknowledging the need to improve the educational preparation for driving instructors, Masilionis asserts the education demand is “illogical.”

“From a professional point of view, driving instructors are on par with those who train welders, carpenters or tailors. Why should driving instructors be that special? The bottom line is someone wants to make training for beginner drivers as if in a spaceport. We need to be near real road conditions as much as possible. However, it seems that we are going to extremes. Many EU countries have got rid of the special driving training sites and apprentice would-be drivers on the road. Why not follow the good example?” Masilionis asked rhetorically.

“By introducing modern technological advancements, it is not complicated to create a system that would allow independent training. Having learnt the theory individually and driven a certain amount of hours, they could skip the training in the driving schools and take the driving exam directly at ‘Regitra.’ The practice is widely accepted in other European countries,” he emphasized.

Starting April 1, the Driver Training Center “Kupiskis TSK,” in Kupiskis, a small rural town in the north, started following the new directives. The establishment started regularly sending data about its would-be drivers, their preparedness and their achievements to “Regitra”’s affiliate in Panevezys. “The new requirements are kind of a nuisance, as they require more paperwork. We can deal with them; however, the demand to install video cameras in the classrooms and set the special driving site nearby seem to be quite unrealizable. We cannot afford buying a few hectares of land for it. Besides, we have to erect traffic lights, make circuits and other installments. If the town itself cannot erect traffic lights in town, how can our little school afford that? The new demands seem unbearable for us. In order to survive, we may considerably increase the training fees for our apprentices. However, then, likely, most would-be drivers in our town will go for driving training in bigger towns nearby,” Marija Vaitiekuniene, “Kupiskis TSK” director, expressed her concern to The Baltic Times.

She admits that the crisis has hit her private school hard, as enrolment has fallen nearly 50 percent. “We are lucky to stay afloat, as some other schools in our little town have gone bankrupt. We have slashed our enrollment fees by 20 percent; however, it does not help. Sadly, we are on the brink of survival, and our future looks very gloomy,” Vaitiekuniene acknowledged.

Vidmantas Simaitis, director of “Biceda,” a driving school in Taurage, in the west, still calls some suggestions in the conception hardly realizable. However, he admits that the latest version of the conception is quite moderate, as some previous stiff requirements have been cancelled. “The conception has changed many times within one year. If it had been passed as it was, many driving schools would have gone bankrupt by now. Thank God, sanity has prevailed to some extent, as some stiff demands have been expunged. However, it remains unclear when it could be adopted. In the beginning, the date was set for June 1, and then July. Now the timeline is pushed to the New Year.

Obviously, high-ranking officers have come to the understanding that it [conception] has to be much more flexible. For example, the demand to replace all older cars and trucks with new ones could cost the school a million litas. Do representatives of the Ministry understand that no driving school has this amount of money? Fortunately, the age limit demand for trucks has been lifted, leaving the ten-year-old limit only for B category cars. As our driving school has rather new cars, the requirement is not important to us. Though the conception has been widely criticized, I support its demand to use brand new or fairly new cars for training. There are quite a lot driving schools out there that run only clunkers in their fleet. This kind of driving school distorts the competition and puts a shadow on the schools caring for its car fleet and would-be drivers,” Simaitis maintained to The Baltic Times. He acknowledged that enrolment in his school has fallen 30 – 40 percent. However, the entrepreneur attributes it to the economic meltdown.