Driving Instructors are demanding attention to their plight or else they say protest action will be undertaken.
The Public Relations Officer of the National Association of Driving Schools, Kingson Jean, explains that there are pressing matters that members have tried, unsuccessfully on several occasions to get authorities to address. One is the fact that there are not enough examiners on island. Jean says that thirty years ago there were about 10 driving instructors and three driving examiners for the entire island. By comparison he says there are now 64 driving instructors operating and still only three examiners. Another issue is that of an additional cost of $50 on the first time practical exam. He says the association was informed that the fee had always been on the books, just never implemented. According to him, members were under the impression that the funds from the newly implemented fee would go toward hiring additional examiners. Instructors are further irate that a window and a clerk which were once specially assigned to driving instructors, at the Ministry, is no longer available forcing them to wait on long public lines.