Are driving tests 'biased'? RTA to look into 'nationality' on forms

Published Sunday, June 10, 2012

By Majorie van Leijen

"Do not worry, you will get your licence very easily," is what the British Pamela Weaver is told, when she tells people that she wants to pursue a driving licence in the UAE.

"But you, you might have to fail a couple of times," said the same people to her Syrian friend.

It is the cliché hat everybody talks about; succeeding to get a driving licence in the UAE is influenced by where you are from. But how true is this?

It is certified that there are citizens of countries that simply have it easy. Thirty-one countries, to be precise, are listed as countries whose citizens can present their original driving licences, which will then become basis for a UAE driving licence.

However, passport holders of all other countries, licences or not, have to prove themselves again in front of the authorities here.

"We do not discriminate, we do not make a difference between any people," explains Ahmed Bahrozyan, CEO of the licensing department of the Road and transport Authority (RTA).

But Syrian female KHM feels otherwise. She repeated examination three times before she obtained the licence.

"When I looked at the list of people who were to be examined that day, I saw numbers, names and nationalities. Why are these nationalities mentioned?" she asked.

Ahmed Bahrozyan when asked about nationality being on the list given to the examiner, replid. "That is indeed something to reconsider," he says.

“We decided not to mention how many times the student has failed, so there is no pre-assumption possible on the side of the examiner. But I never realised that nationality could create a pre-assumption too."

He thanked 'Emirates24|7' for bringing it to his notice, and said he would reconsider mentioning the nationality on the list.

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