Refresher training for drivers

I am very disappointed by the traffic laws of Tanzania. I have been a driver for passengers’ vehicles for 31 years now. Last month I had a process of renewing my driving licence. However, before effecting that renewal a traffic police officer required me to undergo a refresher course at the National Institute of Transport (NIT) for a week. I attended a refresher course but it was not useful as what they taught I knew the same at my fingertips. Is it the law to undergo refresher training? It is my first time to undergo such a course.
TM, Dar es Salaam

The Road Traffic (Examination and Re-testing of Drivers) Regulations, 2015 (Regulations) require a person holding class E or C3, C2, C1 and C driving licence, upon every renewal of his licence to undergo refresher training at a recognised institution and be examined thereafter. The Regulations require a person holding any class of driving licence other than classes E or C3, C2, C1 and C to be examined at every second renewal.

Being a passengers’ vehicles driver, your driving licence falls under the mentioned C class and as such you are required to undergo refresher training upon every renewal of your licence. Therefore, the police officer was legally right to order you to attend the refresher course at NIT. If in the past you renewed your driving licence without undergoing a refresher course, that might be a leniency on the part of the law enforcers or that your past renewals took place before the inception of the Regulations. The objective of the Regulations on refresher training and retesting for passengers’ vehicles is in the interest of public safety by ensuring that the drivers are up to date with new technologies and also to test whether they are still competent since the last renewal.