Training problems persist for heavy duty truck drivers

Not even a driving school in Douala exclusively trains truck drivers.

One will not wonder why truck accidents have become common and often grievous in cities of Douala and Yaounde. The lack of specialised training in most driving schools is a pointer to this fact.

Accidents at the Ndokotti junction in the economic capital and Biyem-Assi in the nation’s capital – still sending waves of uncertainty in the minds of many city dwellers, brought untold damages to human lives and properties.

Francois Ngah Messobo, National President of the Driving School Promoters Trade Union, says in order to train truck drivers for the C and CE licenses, a driving school is officially required to own or hire a truck for the purpose.

But what obtains in Douala is the fact that most of the schools are unable to secure a truck for the training. “Just one driving school in Douala has a truck of its own for the use,” he says.

As a result, a union of driving schools has hired one truck and a heavy duty vehicle to train candidates for the C and CE licenses.

Candidates eligible for the license to drive a truck (C license) must first of all have a license qualifying them to drive small vehicles (B license).

Those aspiring to obtain a license to drive heavy duty vehicles (CE license) must be those who have qualified to drive trucks and own the (category C license) with an experience of at least 6 years.

To Francois Ngah, trucks have the same driving techniques and pedals but differ at the level of the brake system and the size of the vehicle. For the practical part of the exam that hold every 45 days, the transport service hires a truck and put at the disposal of candidates sitting the C and CE categories.

In every 2,300 candidates who sit the exam each session in the region, less than 100 sit the C and CE categories while about 20 per cent of truck drivers obtain fraudulent licenses, the President added.

To Francois, reckless driving is just one of the causes of road accident while the dilapidated state of vehicles is another cause. Since the privatisation of the issuing of road worthiness certificate, fake road worthiness certificates are dished out not taking the state of the vehicle into consideration.

Until those who issue fake documents are sanctioned, the President said, the situation will remain the same.