Cambodia's infamous motorbike taxi drivers to learn their lessons

Asia-Pacific News
By DPA
Jan 31, 2007, 5:35 GMT

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's cavalier motorbike taxi drivers, or motodops, are to be provided with a school to try to reign in their notoriously dangerous driving, an official said Wednesday.

Ung Chung Hour, director of the Land Transport Department of the nation's Transport Ministry, said media reports detailing litanies of dangerous and sometimes drunken exploits of motodops who understand little about road rules and care about them even less had prompted him to set up a school.

'The school will teach them how to drive for free. However, at the end of the course, they will have to pay about 10 dollars to sit an exam and receive a license,' Chung Hour said.

'The idea is to encourage them to do a driving course before they start their business, the same as in more modern countries. I will be very happy if the idea runs smoothly, and I have asked the government for financial assistance to get it started.'

At least one private company has also already donated chairs for the budding students and will provide the licenses for those who pass, he added, and he hopes aid organizations will also help.
Chung Hour has tailored his own course, including writing the lessons himself. The course will cover basic road rules as well as safety modules on issues such as effects of drinking and driving in a country where prosecution for the offense is unknown.

'I want to make a difference. I want to make an achievement to public safety that is remembered,' Chung Hour said.

There are no statistics for the number of motodops operating in Cambodia at any one time as they are not licensed and there are currently no restrictions on who can up take the occupation.
The streets of major towns and cities are filled with motorbikes offering the cheap door-to-door moto taxi service and it is a popular way for provincial people seeking work in the capital to earn an interim living after they arrive.

News of the course was met with indifference by motodops surveyed Wednesday, many of whom saw it as an additional tax and worried that time spent in the classroom would take away from time that could be spent earning money.

But the rapidly increasing road toll has become a cause of concern to the government as roads improve and traffic increases, and there is increasing pressure to improve road safety measures from both the government and concerned non-government agencies.

These concerns could be at least partially allayed by ensuring taxi drivers know the rules of the road, according to Chung Hour, who says his free course will soon be followed by tougher measures.

'The course begins in February. After six months or so, when we know how long it takes to teach, we will look at imposing fines for drivers who do not have a license,' he said.