The category B driving test pass rate grew to 25% this year, up from 15% the previous years. The rise was witnessed immediately after the questionnaire based on which drivers are tested was changed, Nicolae Strulea, head of the Vehicle Registration and Driver Qualification Department of the Public Services Agency, told a news conference.

According to Nicolae Strulea, the ambiguous formulations by which the assessors could intentionally make a candidate fail were excluded. 85% of applicants want to obtain category B. Such a high figure is also due to the shorter period of time needed for scheduling an appointment for taking the exam. Earlier, this period was 60 days, but now was reduced to 14-15 days. 

Public Services Agency director Mircea Eșanu said the taken measures enabled to optimize the testing process. “I do not rule out the fact that this waiting time was introduced in order to generate situations of corruption. The appropriate lines and waiting time significantly contribute to the correctness of the examination process,” he stated.

According to the director, the quality of the examination process will be increased also due to the purchase of driving test vehicles. The vehicles for categories C and D – trucks, minibuses and buses - will be renewed next year and about 30 million lei was planned for the purpose. The tender contests will start this year. “All the vehicles we use in the examination process for large categories do not meet the European conditions,” said Mircea Eșanu.

The Public Services Agency’s pool of testing vehicles was today supplemented with 12 cars, two of which have an automatic gearbox. The vehicles were bought by tender contests. Additionally, they were outfitted with technologies for the assessors to be able to intervene when situations of accident appear. The cars are equipped with video cameras for registering the whole driving testing process.