The Drivers and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) has a introduced a mobile service – a door-to-door approach – as part of commitment to make it easier for Ghanaians to obtain relevant driving documents.
The introduction of the mobile service in organisations and tertiary institutions is to curb the challenges students especially experience when acquiring licenses and other documents to drive while on campus.
The initiative also offers students the opportunity to learn how to drive and acquire knowledge of road regulations to help ensure discipline on the road.
The Chief Executive Officer of DVLA, Kwasi Agyeman Busia, announced this when the authority signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University for Development Studies (UDS) to introduce Tertiary Students Drivers Project (Test Drive) at the UDS campus in Tamale of the Northern Region.
The initiative is to embark on a door-to-door campaign to educate citizens and ensure all acquire knowledge on riding and driving to make access to the license easy for safety and welfare while driving or riding motorcycle.
The institutions would therefore undertake research for development and training, with capacity-building development to enhance the capability of students driving and riding.
Part of the agreement would allow UDS to introduce driving programmes to enable the students to acquire a valid license.
Vice Chancellor of UDS, Professor Seidu Alhassan, commended DVLA for the steps taken to ensure the welfare of road users.
The research and data component would help the university design a programme toward enhancing the knowledge about driving, Professor Alhassan said.
It would go a long way to bring the services of DVLA to the doorsteps of the university community to enable students to know much about the road regulations and the need to acquire the license without any difficulty while driving or riding, he added.
He said that the university is already a research-based institution and that the partnership would support students to take up research that would give more detailed information about DVLA to help them implement new ideas.
He assured that students would be encouraged to undertake the programme for their safety and welfare.
The Head of Research, Business Development and Innovation, Abraham Zaato, said that the objective was to build partnerships for learning, research and development to ensure applicants access licenses easily.
He added that students, lecturers and staff would have good customer service, adding that: “Students would have their license delivered to them through mobile service”.
Mr. Zaato stated that the MoU was also to implement research programmes on driver safety, vehicle safety, research advisory, and data services.
“It would again support management and students in theory test management, practical training, testing site, and TERDRIVE as additional capacity students,” he said.
