The Department for Infrastructure’s Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA) will host the 50th CIECA (Commission Internationale des Examens de Conduite Automobile) General Assembly and Congress this week in Belfast.
More than 150 delegates from over 40 countries will attend the ‘Safe driving for life’ themed conference to hear how Northern Ireland is leading the way in digital driver testing.
Welcoming delegates to Belfast, DVA Chief Executive Paul Duffy said: “I am delighted to welcome driver testing and education colleagues from across Europe and beyond to Belfast this week. This year’s conference theme of ‘safe driving for life’ is central to our own safer drivers, safer vehicles vision.
“This is an exciting time of unprecedented change as we develop new and innovative ways to improve how we deliver our services in the digital age. We all share common goals around road safety and driver testing and we look forward to sharing how we are transforming our driver testing services in Northern Ireland.”
The DVA is replacing its paper-based driver test assessment with mobile technology as part of its digital transformation programme and will also be implementing Graduated Driver Licensing and making changes to the Practical Driving Test to encourage new drivers to become more responsible and safe drivers for life.
Paul Murnaghan, Regional Director at BT Business NI who are Congress sponsors, said: “We are delighted to support this event and highlight the DVA’s achievements in the digital transformation of its services. As DVA’s digital partner, BT is helping to deliver modernised systems for driver licensing, commercial vehicle licensing and mobile based driver testing and compliance checking. This partnership will deliver fast, easy and secure digital services and, more importantly, will make a positive contribution to improving road safety.”
The conference runs from 29 May to 1 June and includes addresses from experts and researchers in the fields of driver behaviour, behaviour change, driver training, driver testing, road safety education plus traffic and transportation psychology.
Notes to editors:
- CIECA is the International Commission for Driver Testing. Its aim is to improve driving standards, to contribute to road traffic education, to improve road safety, to protect the environment and to facilitate the mobility of road freight and passenger transport, both private and commercial.
- The Congress is held annually in different cities around the world and DVA won the bid to host this year’s event.
- Congress sponsors also include Pearson VUE, CIVICA Digital Solutions, Cranmore Consulting and Visit Belfast.
- For more details on the Congress visit https://www.ciecacongress2018.eu/
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