A third amendment to the Motor Car Act passed in the House of Assembly yesterday, this one aims to streamline the process of getting licences at the Transport Control Department.

Minister of Transport said the amendment would enable people with valid international driving licences to move quickly through the TCD process. Dr. Brown also added that upcoming legislation would address congestion in a ?dramatic way? but did not go into further detail.

The Minister said that returning Bermudians and newly arrived expatriate workers with valid driving licences will still have to do the written exam to ensure they understood Bermuda?s road rules. However, they will no longer have to do the road test.

Research has shone that 75 percent of people with international licences pass the road test, of the 25 percent that do not the majority fail the ?zig-zag test?.

The Minister said to ensure that people were equipped to drive on Bermuda roads the Ministry will keep the ?zig-zag test? in place. People will also be required to produce a medical certificate in order to gain a Bermuda licence. He said the changes were fair and would stop unsafe drivers hitting Bermuda?s roads. The failure rate among Bermudians was 20 per cent, MPs were told.

Opposition Minister of Race Relations felt the amendment would only cut out approximately five minutes of people?s time and added that new people on the Island complained about the length of time to get a date to take the test.

Shadow Home Affairs Minister said the test needed to ensure that new residents could handle themselves on Bermuda?s roads.

On the removal of the parking element of the test for some applicants, he said that he could not accept that it would be too stressful for examiners to ask drivers already in the TCD yard to show that they could reverse park. And he said he had been told one of the biggest areas of failure in the test was parking.

Raising concerns about growing levels of traffic, he added: ?Why are we making it easier to put more cars on the road? This will lead to them being on the road more frequently than they are today.?

Opposition frontbencher said drivers moving to Bermuda from other countries may be used to wider highways and larger parking areas. Removal of the parking element, which she said may be ?a little short-sighted?, may lead to rush-hour traffic jams because cars have not been parked straight.

UBP backbencher asked what Government was trying to achieve. The low failure rate for ex-pats was down to experience they had on roads in their home countries and the fact they prepared for their Bermuda exam.

Expressing doubts about the removal of the road test section, he said that all drivers would have to do in future was pass the written test and drive through a zig-zag pattern at TCD. ?What we might find is we are taking away one of the very things that?s maintaining a certain amount of quality control about who?s on the road and who?s not.?

He said the change would take up to 15 minutes off the test and questioned whether this would really ?streamline? the TCD testing system. Employing a couple of extra examiners might have the same impact, added Dr. Gibbons., in response, said the aim of the amendment was to improve efficiency at TCD ? not cut traffic numbers. ?Most people get a licence. All we are doing is expediting the process.?

When Bermudians travelled to other countries and flashed their driver?s licences people accepted them as legitimate, MPs heard. The Minister said this had essentially become a worldwide trend and reminded MPs that the Island was not the only place with difficult parking situations and hairpin bends.

He said he wanted to assure voters that Government was concerned about congestion. However, he said the trends that started the rise in cars did not start with under the PLP administration.

Members of the Opposition also bemoaned rising congestion in Bermuda to which Dr. Brown said his Ministry would soon be revealing measures to address traffic issues in a ?dramatic way?. Responding to UBP. he added that when this legislation was tabled he wanted Opposition support if they were serious on the issue. Attempts to contact Dr. Brown to expand on his comments were unsuccessful last night.

The Minister added: ?This measure is aimed at making a process that?s unnecessarily cumbersome less so.?

He said he would look into a request by Maxwell Burgess to allow ex-pats to get medical letters stating they are fit to drive from a doctor in their home country, rather than a medic in Bermuda.

Dr. Brown said a list of countries TCD would accept licences from would be made public. The second reading of the bill was passed on Friday.