Team Blitz India
Thiruvananthapuram: There will be a complete makeover in the driving licence tests in the state from May 1. These pertain to the category of cars and other small vehicles. The age- old practice of conducting driving tests on roads with iron poles erected and tagged with ribbons will no longer be there.
Now, a tarred or concreted surface will be provided and lines marked through which the drivers will have to manoeuvre their vehicles. Angular parking, parallel parking, zig-zag driving, and driving vehicles on steep roads without moving backwards are mandatory tests to pass to obtain a driving licence from May 1.
The Motor Vehicles Department has 10 testing centres to conduct driving tests. It also uses playgrounds and other spaces, including those belonging to places of worship, to conduct the tests. As the government is facing a financial crisis, the minister has entrusted driving schools to find places to conduct these tests.
Kerala is one of the few states that has digitalised almost all aspects of the Motor Vehicle Department. Barring physical driving tests and vehicle inspections, all other aspects are digitalised.
The digitalisation process was enabled as part of the state government’s ease-of-doing-business policy. The latest services that will be available online are change of address on the registration certificate, change of ownership of a vehicle, collecting NOC, getting duplicate registration certificate, cancelling hypothecation and hypothecation endorsement. “The digitalisation is expected to help the public get easy access to the various services under the motor vehicle department,” said an official.
