Dear honourable Minister Ingrid Arrindell,
I, the undersigned driving instructor, am concerned about the lengthy time it takes for St. Maarten citizens who have signed up, to take the driving exam. Presently, it takes quite some time from the day the candidate signs up at the census office for the exam to the time the candidate actually writes the exam. As it stands, only five persons per day are allowed to take the exam, which has resulted in quite a backlog in persons waiting to do the exam.
In the past, the protocol was that when someone signed up for the driving licence exams that person was able to take the exams within two weeks. Last year (2015), the time was extended to five to six weeks. At present (now in 2016), it takes a lengthy eight weeks from the day the person signs up for the exam for that person to be able to take the exams.
Dear honourable minister, it is my fervent belief that if you do not step in and do something now, the time will increase to six months, then a year or even more. I am kindly asking you to please consider addressing this matter seriously and immediately so that we can have more licenced drivers on our roads and avoid more unlicensed persons driving on our roads and making the roads unsafe for us all.
In addition, let wisdom prevail so our country will not be missing out on the much needed funds that can be generated from the driving licence exams. Moreover, persons who hold a foreign driver’s licence will be eager to do their driving exams here, once they know that it would not take them a long time to process. More importantly, our roads will be much safer when we know that the majority of people driving on the road have studied, understood and can obey our driving regulations.
It is my hope that you, honourable minister, would regulate this situation as quickly as possible so that the citizens of this country would be able to do their driving exams in a shorter time, after they have completed their driving classes.
Paul Woods
Driving Instructor
