Driving instructors have taken to social media to condemn a municipal decision that bans them from entering residential areas in the North.
In its weekly meeting yesterday, the Northern Municipal Council voted to ban instructors from training people in neighbourhoods surrounding the Driving School Bahrain in A’ali.
The council also requested the Traffic Directorate to suspend licences of violating instructors following the launch of a petition signed by residents who have been complaining for years.
The directorate has already issued an internal circular to ban driving examiners from taking people to nearby neighbourhoods but the order did not cover instructors.
Driving instructors yesterday claimed the council’s decision was unfair and unrealistic.
One Bahraini man, who wished to remain anonymous, said most instructors entered residential areas to visit mosques or cold stores before or after a training session.
He also stressed that the actual training did not take place in neighbourhoods but on main roads and inside the school.
However, area councillor Abdulla Ashoor told the GDN that he has video evidence of several instructors allowing their students to drive in residential areas surrounding the school.
“Yes, I have seen (the comments) of the instructors on social media that they don’t teach people in the nearby residential neighbourhoods, but the truth is that they do and I have video footage as evidence,” he said following the council’s session yesterday.
“They are putting everyone in danger, especially children and pedestrians.
“They are insisting that they are not doing anything wrong, but going to the mosque or cold store does not take around 20 to 25 minutes.
“Entering neighbourhoods is something that shouldn’t be occurring and instructors should be confined to the school or on the main Shaikh Zayed Highway to their destinations or for external training.
“It is a sickening situation that has led to injuries – residents are worried the worst is yet to come as children walk to neighbourhood cold stores or play football on the streets.”
Mr Ashoor also urged traffic policemen to be alert as driving instructors could encroach other areas in the country away from A’ali.
“A circular was issued (by the Traffic Directorate) banning examiners from taking people around nearby neighbourhoods and we have noticed that exams are now being conducted on the main highway and diverted into different routes that are not close to homes,” he said.
“This is a step in the right direction and now that we have taken an official decision against the instructors, hopefully residents will live with the peace of mind they deserve following years of bad times.
“Hopefully instructors won’t move into other residential neighbourhoods in Salmabad, Abu Quwah or Sehla. This is a task for policemen to catch them red-handed, not just to fine them but refer them to the Public Prosecution for legal action.”
In 2004, the Interior Ministry banned instructors from using the area behind Bahrain National Stadium following petitions that the place was dangerous due to speeding cars on the main December 16 Highway.
mohammed@gdn.com.bh
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