Lowveld motorcyclists stranded for licences as all local testing stations are out of action
The nearest operational motorcycle testing ground is Middelburg - nearly 200 kilometres and a R118 toll gate away. However, authorities have promised to have local testing stations up and running by month-end.
Lowveld motorcyclists who need to take licence tests are stuck up a creek without a paddle.
This as the calibration of equipment at all the testing stations that used to do motorcycle licence testing in the Lowveld have lapsed between two months and a year ago.
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Testing was previously done at Mbombela, Barberton and Komatipoort. But according to Lowveld Motorcycle Training’s Johan du Plessis, Barberton and Mbombela’s shared equipment calibration expired about 12 months ago.
Sabie and Graskop have never done motorcycle testing and Lydenburg’s motorcycle test track was converted into offices. Komatipoort – about 100km and an R89 toll gate away – was the last testing station to fall about two months ago when its equipment calibration also expired.
This left Middelburg – nearly 200km and what many deem an overpriced toll gate away – with the monopoly.
The challenge, Du Plessis said, was that the riders had to make a licence test booking in person and then go back again to be tested – either riding their motorcycle there and back or loading their bike on a trailer.
An industry insider who cannot be named told Lowvelder he had been trying to get answers for more than two weeks.
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Responding to Lowvelder’s questions, the Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison’s spokesperson, Moeti Mmusi, apologised for the inconvenience caused and promised testing stations would be operational by the end of this month.
“A new service provider has just been appointed to calibrate the testing stations in the province. The department was following due process to ensure that stations get calibrated.”
He said the equipment has already been taken in to be calibrated and will be brought back to the testing stations by the end of September, upon which testing will resume.
The void in the system also posed a challenge to the legion of delivery bike drivers in the Lowveld, who might not be able to afford repeated trips to Middelburg.
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Fortunately for these ‘independent contractors’, a South African motorbike learner’s licence can be renewed an unlimited number of times and allows the driver (if 18 years or older) to ride any class of motorbike.
When it comes to foreign nationals driving motorbikes locally, many of them come from countries where a car licence covers all classes of motorcycles.
This, however, raises key questions around the level of their driving qualifications since, in theory, both groups’ skills may never be formally tested.
