Zimbabwean Drivers To Undergo Eye Tests Periodically
The Government will soon make it mandatory for all drivers to undergo periodic eye tests to ensure that they are fit to be on the road and reduce road traffic accidents.
Professional driver’s permits will be renewed after every two years while other categories of drivers will undergo eye testing and updating of biometric records after every five years.
Holders of newly-acquired Class Two (2) driver’s licences will soon be prohibited from driving haulage trucks popularly known as “gonyeti” as the Government moves to tame the country’s traffic jungle and curb the road carnage.
The Government, through the Vehicle Inspectorate Department (VID), will soon require would-be professional truck drivers to undergo additional testing to get a Professional Drivers Permit and Defensive Driver’s Certificate consolidated into a single card.
This was said by Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona in a statement issued on Wednesday, 07 June. He said:
The new National Driving Licence System that we will be launching soon will also enhance our capacity to develop an electronic Database of all licenced Drivers which will be linked to all relevant stakeholders and enforcement agencies…
After the transitional phase, the new Driving Licence will consolidate the Professional Driver’s Permit and the Defensive Drivers Certificate onto a single card.
Professional drivers will be progressively certified unlike the current scenario whereby one instantly becomes a professional driver on obtaining a Class Two driver’s disc.
All Professional Drivers’ Permits will be renewable after every two (2) years and the drivers will be required to go for Eye Test to assess vision and the ability to focus on and discern objects.
Similarly, the drivers’ biometrics will also be periodically updated in the System.
Other drivers outside the Professional Drivers category will also undergo Eye Test and updating of their biometric records after every 5 years.
Mhona said plans are in to replace the current metal driver’s licences with a new plastic disc that will be issued on 19 June after launching the new national driver’s licences.
More: Pindula News
