Over 30,000 drivers deprived of licenses in 2016
By Tea Mariamidze
Wednesday, January 18
Deputy Interior Minister Shalva Khutsishvili says that drunk drivers remain among the top three causes of road accidents.
He said that 30,174 people have been deprived of their driving licenses in 2016 throughout Georgia.
However, Khutsishvili explains that the license will be returned to the owner if they are deprived of it for the first time and pay a fine in exchange for it.
“Up to 10% of the drivers who were deprived of the driving license received it back again after paying a fine,” the Deputy Interior Minister added.
Furthermore, Khutsishvili said that around 550 thousand cars move in the streets of Tbilisi during the day and so-called smart cameras help the ministry to reveal even minor violations.
“Smart cameras revealed that around 20 percent of drivers in Tbilisi violate the rules of the road, which cause risks of road accidents,” the official said, and added that radical measures are necessary to solve the problem.
Khutsishvili said that the practical part of the driving license exam would become more complicated in the future.
“The existing model of the practical exam will change as those passing the exam are still dangerous for traffic in the street,” he stressed.
The official says that the Interior Ministry has studied the experience of tens of countries in this respect and several models of the exam have been elaborated.
“The exam will not be conducted at one street only but around the city. One of the versions of the exam envisages equipping vehicles with cameras and relevant analytical programs that will detect all violations,” he stated.
At present the driving license exam consists of both theory and practice tests.
The theory exam entails a test at a computer, which examines the theoretical knowledge of the person.
After passing the theory test, the examinees have to take a practical exam, which means driving a car at a special exam ground equipped with sensors.
