Transport Ministry Softens Stance: No Full Course for Seasoned Riders  

Facing public backlash over the proposed thirty-hour mandatory motorcycle training, the Transport Ministry is easing up, not just on the price tag. Today, CEO Chester Williams announced a key amendment. Riders with at least five years of motorcycle experience and a clean driving record will no longer be required to complete the full program. They will be able to take a shorter refresher course. Williams says the adjustment strikes a balance between improving road safety and addressing the concerns of responsible, long-time riders.

 

Chester Williams, CEO, Ministry of Transportation

“We have made some adjustments to the proposed training where we’re saying that if it is that you have been driving for five years or more with an unblemished record, then you will not have to undergo the complete thirty hours training, but rather you may do a nine hours refresher just to bring you up to speed of the new laws and so forth that are going to be a part of the legislative interventions that we are currently doing. And I do believe that is to some extent, reasonable. At the end day, we still have to look at this pool of people who have been riding for so many years with unblemished record to be trainers. The training, as I had said before, will not be done by government. So for those persons who were saying that this is a way for the government to get rich, it’s not for the government. We’re hoping that we’ll be able to get people from within the community, from within the cycling clubs to do the training. So we’ll have to find a way that we will be how we’ll be identifying these trainers so that the training can be done. I have asked the different cycling clubs to come together and see if they can give their input on the development of the curriculum. While we have looked at other jurisdictions and we have looked at their training curriculum, we still believe that while we believe that what they’re doing is good, if we can get the input of our cyclists our motorcycle rider, I believe it is going to be more homegrown as opposed to just adapting something from somewhere.“