Beijing, April 1 (Inditop.com) Around 28 million partially disabled people are heaving a sigh of relief in China as the government’s new regulations will allow them to drive vehicles from Thursday.
The newly-revised regulations on driver’s licence allow, for the first time, disabled people who are able to sit by themselves despite being paralysed from the waist down to acquire a licence for adapted vehicles, China Daily reported.
The regulations also permit hearing-impaired people to drive if they can hear adequately using a hearing aid.
Disabled drivers will have to drive vehicles that have been modified to enable them to drive safely. The vehicles will also be labelled to inform other drivers.
“The new regulations mean a lot to me since a car will be my new ‘legs’,” Shen Ping, from Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, who had driven for almost 30 years before both his legs were paralysed, was quoted as saying.
Shen and 60 others with limb problems started their three-month training this week, the first course of its kind in the province. After the training, they have to pass a test to get a licence for an adapted vehicle.
Over 28 million people with paralysed limbs had been deprived of driving by the country’s old regulations. Some have driven anyway, hoping to avoid being caught by the police.
China has at least hundreds of such “unauthorised drivers,” Xu Fengjian, chairman of the Association for People with Paralyzed Limbs, said.
“If someone can sit by oneself, he or she can be a qualified driver, no matter whether they have legs or not,” said Li Ning, chairman of a similar association in Ningxia.
To get the licence, applicants will undergo a health check at a designated medical institute to prove they are capable of driving. Successful applicants will undergo another check up if they want to renew their licence three years later, the regulation said.
Meanwhile, an officer with the ministry of public security said with the enforcement of the new regulations, they need to ensure the safety of both the new drivers and others on the road.
“Traffic regulators will treat the disabled drivers the same as other drivers,” Zhang Xuezhong, in charge of vehicle management in Yinchuan city, said.
The regulation was passed by the ministry of public security Nov 21, 2009.
