Submissions received during the Land Transport Authority’s public consultations included the reintroduction of the minimum Public Service Vehicle (PSV) licence requirement age to 25 from 18 to allow drivers more years of experience.
Apenisa Dansey of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) raised this with the panel, which included Fiji Police Force traffic director SSP Mitieli Divuana, LTA acting CEO Irimaia Rokosawa and Ministry of Transport director-traffic Faranisese Kinivuwai.
Speaking on the subject of driving experience to obtain a PSV driver licence, Mr Dansey said this was a big concern, especially for buses.
“For the last few months, there’ve been a lot of incidents involving buses,” he said.
“In my experience, maybe way back in the 80s, when I tried to apply for my PSV licence, I was told ‘you have to be 25 first’, with five years driving experience. But now, we see so many very, very young people.
“Most of these young drivers drive recklessly on the roads. They don’t think about the passengers or other vehicles. And sometimes they’re very rude to passengers.”
Mr Dansey said the age should be moved back to 25 years, especially for bus drivers, “I propose that one gets seven to eight years of driving experience before they’re cleared to get a PSV licence”.
In response, Mr Rokosawa said the present laws have been “slackened a bit” and this was something that needed to be reviewed.
“There was a revision in the law where some of the previous regulations were probably slackened a bit, and that is something that we are emphasising to our stakeholders and also to the line ministry, to see that there is no compromise between a commercial perspective and also in public service delivery,” Mr Rokosawa said.
