Extended Hours for More Applicants

The pardoning of all traffic violators including drunken driver put the police on alert. Due to the skyrocketing number of applicants, who were pardoned and allowed to be tested, the police have extended the business hours of driving test facilities on Saturday and even decided to open them on Sundays.

According to the July 10th press release, the facilities will remain open late on first and third Saturdays and be open on second and fourth Sundays, as opposed to the current “once a month” practice. The number of written tests will be increased from 2-4 times a day to 5 and the number of applicants for the “course driving test will become 50 from the current 40 per hour. For the road test, one examiner will evaluate 25 people a day, 5 more than before.

One official estimated, “With these measures additional 240,000 people can take the test. By the end of September, I think we can return to the normal schedule.”

The police will post the applicants’ waiting lists on the bulletin boards in the facilities and on its home page (www.dla.go.kr).

Hoon Lee dreamland@donga.com