According to specialists, nearly 10% of them take lessons in other private schools, while the rest learn how to drive through other methods. People take driving lessons on their own especially in the villages. But all these “students” get their drivers’ licenses after taking an exam at the state police department.
Pedestrians, drivers, police officers as well as everyone, complain that all citizens keep on violating traffic laws. Police officers complain that the drivers and pedestrians either don’t know the laws or are just careless. Pedestrians blame the drivers for driving however they want and not obeying the laws. Drivers, in turn, complain about the pedestrians and the police officers. According to them, officers sometimes pull them over for no reason just to “charge a fee.” As for the pedestrians, drivers don’t like it when they just cross the street whenever they feel like it and from the desired spot. It’s clear that we need to have traffic lights on all streets, especially during night hours.
Driving teachers are of the opinion that the reason for so many violations is due to the fact that many drivers don’t know transportation laws. The driving teachers assure that the driver that leaves the school knows all the laws and becomes the best driver. So, the ones to blame are the drivers that learn by themselves. In that case, why do police officers give licenses to those drivers and keep violations at a constant. Any driver knows the reason to this.
“It doesn’t matter if the driver has taken driving lessons at a school or on his own; he buys his license for 130 dollars. The only time that happens is when the driver has ties with the police,” said many drivers. “It doesn’t matter how well the driver follows the laws. Police simply find reasons to take bribes. The more the driver violates transportation laws, the more money it will pay to the police officer as a bribe.”
So, how can one learn how to drive in Armenia? As mentioned in the beginning, the Department of Motor Vehicles of the Soviet Union still teaches future drivers and there are 48 schools all over Armenia. Those schools have turned from NGOs to small profit organizations. One of the organization representatives said that they give licenses to 13,000 citizens a year of which 2500 are soldiers serving in the army. Those soldiers get the money from the Ministry of Defense. The 10-11 thousand students pay on their own. The Ministry of Defense pays each soldier 133 dollars, and the citizen pays around 20-30 dollars including money for gas, oil and other minor expenses. The Department of Motor Vehicles of Armenia says that this is not enough for the lessons.
“Last year, we raised the price from 20 dollars to 40,” says vice-president of the Department of Motor Vehicles Edward Hakobyan. “But then we saw that we have less clients. We were forced to lower the price. We want to get a lot of money in order to et the latest equipment and apply new teaching methods.”
“We only have the technical equipment left from the Soviet Union,” says an owner of one of the driving schools Vahan Osikyan. “The latest car we have was produced back in 1988.”
Despite all this, the representatives of the department of motor vehicles assure that they prepare the best drivers because they are the leaders in expertise. As for director of the “Mobil-Start” Garegin Arzumanyan, he assures that their drivers are not only better than the other “graduates”, they are more prepared because the school has updated technology. Besides that, the teachers help the drivers drive more calmly.
“First, we teach students how to drive with “training” wheels and pedals,” says Mr. Arzumanyan. “The student driving for the first time usually fears touching the wheel and the pedals. We make him feel safer by “training” him. We have a BMW for training and I am going to get rid of the old Soviet cars because you can’t apply modern technologies on those cars.”
The price for learning how to drive at this school is higher compared to that of others-300 dollars. The director reasoned that the price is high due to the professional staff. Besides that, the fee includes the state tax, which is 40 dollars and the student doesn’t pay for gas and other expenses. “Mobil Start” teaches 200 people how to drive yearly. The other driving schools, part of the department of motor vehicles, teach the same number of students. G. Arzumanyan assured that he likes to compete with other schools.
“If they have good technology and apply modern day methods, I can learn from them and do that too,” says Arzumanyan.
Mr. Arzumanyan also talked about the hardships that his school has had to face. He wasn’t able to come up with one achievement with the technology of the Soviet Union. It all depends on finances. He considers teaching drivers as a business and doesn’t think that 300 dollars is enough. He doesn’t believe that that is enough to develop.
“Drivers have to pay 500-600 dollars to take driving lessons in Moscow and the minimum is 150 Euros in Europe,” says G. Arzumanyan. “Besides the price difference, we have a lot to learn from other countries. We need to refresh the program. Today, we can’t prepare good truck and bus drivers because, first of all, there is no demand and we don’t have the necessary technologies. There are no trucks or bus. The Department of Motor Vehicles has them, but they are too old. I hope that some companies that have trucks will have a demand and we’ll get them.”
All driving teachers believe that it is necessary to take driving lessons to become a driver. That’s why the student shouldn’t ask his father or brother for lessons, but rather the specialist.
“Just like you go to the doctor when you are seriously ill, the same goes for driving. After all, it’s a matter of life and death,” says G. Arzumanyan.