The Department of Transport Management plans to issue guidelines to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport in a bid to bring reforms in the driving licence issuance process.

“We are working towards making a draft to amend the existing rules. We will be sending it to the ministry by mid-January, and thereafter, it will be tabled in Parliament,” Gogan Bahadur Hamal, director general at the department, told the Post.

The department is working closely with the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division to prepare a new law. The division has set up meetings on December 29 and December 30 with the representatives of all seven provinces to discuss the needed reforms in the licence issuance process.

“We will also include some important points recommended by provincial government chiefs,” said Hamal.

Hamal said the proposed law would also include electric vehicles and their operations in the country. He, however, declined to comment on the status of existing ride-sharing companies that have been providing services to hundreds of people in Kathmandu Valley every day.

Hamal said the test to get driving licences is going to be tougher, as the idea is to reduce the growing incidents of road accidents. The drivers of public vehicles, for example, must show evidence of having been trained for a minimum of three months.

A departmental report showed that around 80 percent of road accidents are caused due to drivers’ negligence.

The proposed law will also raise the age bar to obtain driving licences; 18 for two-wheelers and 24 for four-wheelers. The department also plans to increase the fine for traffic violations by a threefold.

Authorities have been charging people Rs500 to Rs1,000 for traffic rule violations.