The first Auto-Motorcycle Driving School to be operated by Advance Institute of Monitoring Ltd, a first in its kind in Mauritius, was officially launched yesterday in Rose Hill. The project is in line with the Road Safety Campaign which kicked off last month and aims at providing motorcyclists with an in-depth and appropriate training course which is henceforth a prerequisite to obtain a motorcycle license.
The driving school was launched in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Energy and Public Utilities, Mr Ivan Leslie Collendavelloo; the Minister of Public Infrastructure and Land Transport, Mr Nandcoomar Bodha; and the Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Local Government and Outer Islands, Mrs Fazila Jeewa-Daureeawoo and other personalities.
In his address, Deputy Prime Minister Collendavelloo condemned the alarming number of accidents involving motorcyclists on our roads. He lauded the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and Land Transport as well as the various stakeholders for coming forth with the Auto-Motorcycle Driving School project which according to him, will bring a change in the driving mindset and instill discipline in motorcyclists. Appropriate training will help decrease the number of road crashes and accidents caused by motorcyclists due to poor driving behaviour, he added.
Minister Bodha highlighted the various road infrastructures projects in the pipeline and expressed satisfaction that the Auto-Motorcycle Driving School is now a reality. He announced that ten such driving schools will be operational throughout the island to provide driving course to motorcyclists. In this context, 21 trainers and 14 examiners have been trained for the project.
He added that 210 000 motorcyclists possess licenses while 140 000 are riding motorcycles with learner permits. Mr Bodha underlined that it will be compulsory for persons with learner permits to undertake the training course so as to comply with the new set of regulations defined before applying for a motorcycle license.
For her part, Vice-Prime Minister Jeewa-Daureeawoo dwelt on the importance of imparting the appropriate riding skills and training to motorcyclists and commended the initiative to help prevent road accidents adding that in 2017, 158 cases of road accidents involved motorcycles with an average of 61 casualties per year.
Source: Government of Mauritius