Dubai: The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) recently found 57 driving instructors guilty of not complying with the rules of training drivers.

The campaign ensures compliance to the rules and training codes by the instructors so that the trainees get proper value for their time and money.

Ahmad Hashem Behroozian, CEO of RTA’s Licensing Agency, said the campaign aims at ensuring that the appropriate service content is delivered to the learner rather than wasting time.

“What the inspectors look for could be as simple as whether the instructors are wearing their badges, do they have their permits renewed, are they teaching the right skills, are students attending correct number of classes etc,” said Behroozian.

He added that the campaigns are conducted regularly every year, regardless of whether there are violations or not.

“It serves as a reminder for driving institutes and instructors of their responsibilities and duties,” he said.

He noted that diverse inspection campaigns have been launched targeting driving institutes and instructors to monitor their performance and commitment to the timely start and end of driving lessons.

There are 14 penalties and the fines could be as high as Dh1,000 for a single offence such as not starting training from designated locations.

The violations range from not complying with the allotted time of driving lessons, a common complaint, to using mobile phone during the lessons or leaving the driver alone in the car.

Instructors are also not allowed to eat, drink or read newspapers and magazines during the practical classes.

Interestingly, some of the ways the records are kept for the trainees log may change soon.

Currently, it is the instructor’s duty to ensure the trainee has signed in and signed out in the driving lessons card. The instructors also have to register relevant information in driving lessons card and acknowledge the delivery of the prescribed lessons.

According to Behroozian, trainee drivers may soon have to log in and log out electronically for their driving classes as RTA plans to introduce smart monitoring system of driver’s training.

Though, regular inspections ensure high standards of adherence to rules and training time, RTA believes a smart monitoring system will ensure greater compliance.

“We are working on a plan to introduce a smart monitoring system at driving schools, which will allow us to keep an eye on each and every trainee driver. Students will log in and log out of their classes electronically and all the information will be entered electronically, which will help us monitor their performance throughout,” he said.

He said there are plans to install CCTV cameras in all training vehicles to ensure right candidates are appearing for classes and that all trainees go through their proper courses.

The plan, which is expected to be implemented in two years, is part of the drive to improve road safety and training standards, and achieve the target of zero road deaths by 2020.

The trainee drivers normally get two types of training, eight classes of theory and 20 to 40 classes of practical training behind the wheels of 30 minutes each, depending on the trainee’s prior experience.

In most cases 40 classes are considered sufficient to train the drivers, however, following the prescribed classes an assessment examiner decide if the trainee driver requires extra classes or not.

If the driver fails the final road test, then he is required to do eight more classes and will again be assessed by the assessment examiner.