Manama: Bahrain is mulling extending driver training hours to help deal with the pressure from the large number of applicants, a traffic officer has said.
"We are looking at the option of using the grounds at the driving school until 10pm as an option to help deal with the high demand of people who want to pass the exam and obtain the license," said Rashid Al Musbah, the head of the school.
"We have already equipped the school with the necessary light to make such an option possible," he told Bahrain Radio.
Bahraini nationals and residents have been complaining about being forced to wait for months before they could book lessons with the limited number of driving instructors in the country.
The situation has pushed Bahraini MPs to lobby for the imposition of limits on the expatriates who can obtain driving license.
However, their move was resisted by the government on the grounds that it against its international commitments to human rights.
Under Bahrain's traffic laws, learners need a minimum of 22 hours before they can take the test.
More than 400,000 cars are registered in Bahrain, a country with a population slightly exceeding one million, with foreigners making up slightly more than 50 per cent.
Last week, Shaikh Abdul Rahman Bin Subah Al Khalifa, the head of traffic, said that the country's new traffic strategy had successfully helped reduce the number of fatalities bringing the number of people killed down from 91 in 2007 to 84 in 2008 and 76 in 2009.
