LTO Proposes New Rules and Guidelines for Driving Schools

The Land Transportation Office in Central Visayas (LTO)-7 presented new set of guidelines and rules for driving schools during the “Public Consultation for Driving Schools” on Thursday, October 3, at the LTO-7 regional office in N.Bacalso Avenue, Cebu City.

LTO-7 regional director Vic Caindec spearheaded the activity where representatives from different driving schools in Metro Cebu attended.

Caindec presented and explained the proposed “Enhanced Driving School Accreditation and Standardized Driver Training and Education to the guests and members of the media. He explained the requirements of every driving schools from the drivers to the general operations.

“We want to share with you the development of LTO under the leadership of DOTR, Usec. Mark de Leon and of course Secretary Tugade and others,” Caindec said.

Based on the guideline, the most important thing driving school owners’ should consider is the means to construct and handle a driving school.

The guideline states that a driving school should have their own maneuvering site, classrooms for lessons, audio-visual materials, updated set of traffic signs and signals, owned test vehicles (automatic and manual transmission cars and a motorcycle).

A driving school’s test car is also required to have dashboard cameras, instructor’s own brake pedal and and an IT equipment connected to the LTO’s database.

Driving schools are also required to have a 14×14 maneuvering site where students can execute practical driving lessons.

However, if a driving school doesn’t have its own maneuvering site and decides to let the students practice on public roads, they must first acquire a permit from respective Local Government Units.

Meanwhile, instructors are required to have a professional driver’s license valid for 5 years, a college graduate or any vocational training course certificate and a neuro-phsychiatric test.

One of the biggest goal of the said proposed guideline is once it is implemented, driver’s license applicants will now be required to undergo driving school lessons before he/she can apply and acquire any license.

“People will need to change their mindset, having a license is a privilege from the government, it is not a right,” Caindec said. (MLC)