Zimbabwe - The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe has been asked to justify the costs of its learner driver's guidebook commonly known as "the green book". Secretary for Transport and Communications Mr Patson Mbiriri said this was in response to concerns by aspiring drivers. The booklet, which is mandatory for a learner driver to be in possession of when on the road, costs US$15 a copy and ownership is not transferable. The Highway Code, which is a comprehensive guide to Zimbabwean road rules and regulations, costs US$5 a copy but it is in colour and of a better quality than "the green book". Many people have contacted The Herald through smss and letters complaining how tough it is to pass the exam for a Provisional Driver's Licence as well as the costs involved before one can acquire a Certificate of Competence.

Mr Mbiriri said: "The public's concerns are valid and we have asked the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe to re-examine their costing and either justify it or reduce the price. We are still waiting for their response."

On the US$20 fee to sit for a Learner's Licence written exam, Mr Mbiriri said people should understand that the costs in administering the tests were beyond the pieces of paper used in the actual writing.

"We have overheads like salaries for all the staff who are involved in the process as well as other administrative costs," he explained.

Mr Mbiriri dismissed allegations that the exam format has been changed and that the current tests require more time than the allotted eight minutes,.

"We might shift the questions around and change the way of asking but the tests have not changed in format or difficulty and all the questions are derived from the Highway Code."

A review of the questions by a Herald reporter sitting for the exam confirms that the format has not changed

There are 25 multiple choice questions, which have to be answered in eight minutes. Reading the instructions is also included in that period.

To pass the test one has to score a minimum of 88 percent or 23 correct answers.

A survey at one VID office on a single day revealed that only 33 people out of the 100 who had taken the test on that day had managed to pass.

An officer from the VID said that it was difficult to determine an average pass rate, as some classes produced zero passes while others produced pass rates above 60 percent.

A woman who had failed for the fourth time said that it was proving too expensive as she has already forked out $80 and does not know how many tries it will take her to pass.

She had got more than nine answers wrong on that day.

Another prospective driver who had passed the test said it was the first time he had sat for the exam and that he found the timing fair.

"I believe that it is only right to expect a driver to have this knowledge at their fingertips. You can imagine the chaos that will result on the roads if you have drivers who need a minute to figure out who has the right of way every time they approach an intersection," he said.

All the information needed to pass the test is in the Highway Code but it appears as though many people are opting to use the sample question papers printed by various sources, usually driving schools, as exclusive study materials.

These booklets are sold on street corners or outside VID offices and they costs anything from a dollar to US$5.

There is nothing wrong with practicing with mock exams but used alone, they are obviously not adequate to prepare one successfully for the exam.

Most of the papers have terrible grammar mistakes, which make it impossible for the reader to make any sense out of the reading.

One paper in circulation has a question written 'What is heard perception?" whose answer is supposed to be "Dangerous place".

Other people are also working on a basis of cramming the questions and what they are told are the right answers instead of trying to understand what the Highway Code says.

The Herald/14/03/2011