At the 21 license trial centers across Nepal, approximately 5,000 people appear for their driving test every single day. The Department of Transport Management, under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, introduced a new system last year whereby those applying for their licenses had to score 80 out of 100 points to be eligible for one. Before this, you would be failed for a single error. The new rules were made to ensure more people passed the test as only 25 percent got through in the previous system. This, driving school operators in Kathmandu valley say, has made it easier for people to get a license with minimal effort. So much so that they come to driving centers to prep themselves for the trial and not to learn how to drive.
Deepak Tamang, proprietor of Creation Driving School in Tinkune, Kathmandu and in Lokanthali, Bhaktapur, says 75 percent of the 100-plus people who come to them every month want a license. Learning to drive is secondary, something they will get around to after acquiring a license and driving on the roads for a few months. This kind of reckless attitude towards driving, he says, puts both the drivers and those around them at risk. As it is, there are already enough factors—bad roads, faulty engineering, flood and landslides—contributing to road accidents.
“You can learn to drive properly in a month or two with regular classes. But most people who come to us just want to pass the trial. They ask us to stick to the test format and teach them tricks to ace it,” says Tamang, who has been running a driving school for over a decade. Sanu Adhikari, who runs Adhikari Driving Training Center and has been driving for 30 years, says he recently got a group from Kalanki, Kathmandu, who wanted to learn how to pass the driving test. They didn’t know how to drive at all, he says.
Pushpa Maharjan, owner of Dev Driving Institute, says people often fill the license exams forms first and then come to the training center. They have 15 days or a month at the most to pass the exam and want to practice as much as they can in an open area, he says. When the instructors want to take them to the road to practice, they say they shouldn’t be wasting time on that now. “License aaucha ni? (‘Will I get a license?’) is a common question we get when people come to enroll in our driving classes,” says Maharjan.
Government data reveals that 2,500 people die every year in road accidents while thousands more are injured. A study by the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport found that 76 percent of highway accidents are caused by drivers not following traffic rules, or speeding. According to the WHO Global Status on Road Safety 2018, eight in 100,000 people die in highway and road accidents in developed countries, whereas in low-income countries like Nepal the number jumps to 27.5. In 2019, there were roughly 13,000 accidents in which 2,736 people lost their lives and 10,731 were injured. The numbers were slightly down in 2020 and 2021 due the Covid-19 lockdowns.
According to Suman Giri of Samyukta Driving School, driving in Kathmandu is a subjective thing. People simply aren’t aware of the rules as well as their blatant disregard for them. Everyone, he says, is doing his/her own thing on the road without a care for the repercussions of their actions. A taxi-driver ApEx questioned in Pulchowk, Lalitpur, said if he were to follow traffic rules he would never get anywhere. Another motorcyclist said it has never taken him more than 25 minutes in rush hour to reach his workplace in Sanepa, Lalitpur from Bansbari, Kathmandu as he is “quite talented in maneuvering his way through jams”.
Motor vehicle sales have been growing at an average annual rate of 32.1 percent from 2006 to 2019, according to CEIC. Every year, more and more people are taking to the roads. Without proper knowledge of traffic rules and driving skills, there will be even more chaos and accidents. Giri says traffic education should start at schools as knowledge of traffic rules and how you must behave on the roads whether you are walking or driving, should be ingrained early on. “Until that happens, we can start by getting driving schools to emphasize theoretical classes before letting anyone get behind the wheel. Even those who have a license don’t know the meaning of traffic signs or how to change a flat tire or check their vehicles’ engine oil. That kind of half-knowledge can be dangerous,” he says.
Agreeing with Giri, Tamang of Creation Driving School says driving instructors should also be trained. Currently, anyone who knows how to drive can open a driving school. But knowing how to drive and teaching the skill are two different things, he argues. A competent trainer, he says, will explain the concepts and techniques without getting frustrated, unlike what generally happens when your friend or relative tries to teach you.
Giri adds that a study they conducted found that 95 percent of road accidents were caused by those without any formal training. What mostly happens is one person in a family knows how to drive and he teaches another and the cycle continues. But just because someone knows how to drive doesn’t necessarily mean he will be able to teach well.
Raj Shah of Shah Motor Driving School thinks keeping a record of the driving certificates—mandatory while applying for a license—can instill a sense of obligation in those running driving schools. They are then likely to teach real driving as opposed to arming people with tricks to pass the trial. When you certify someone can drive and that certificate is considered a legal document you won’t give it to anybody, says Shah. “It’s not unusual for driving institutes to issue certificates for a couple of thousand rupees. This has to stop,” he adds.
Maharjan, on the other hand, thinks the government needs to come up with stricter rules for driving institutes. There should be a fixed learning system and proper monitoring to ensure the system is being implemented, he says. Giri says concerned government bodies, police, driving schools and media need to work together to shift the focus from getting a license to learning how to drive.
Bishnu KC, spokesperson of Nepal Police, says there needs to be more studies to figure out a way to make license trials more effective so that by the time people sit for the exam, they have a good understanding of traffic rules and control over their vehicles. Apart from that, KC believes people need to be more aware of their road behavior. They are not only in a hurry but many think they do anything they want on the road. “The problem isn’t that people don’t know how to drive properly. It is that they couldn’t care less,” he says.
