The Vice-Minister of Transportation Spokesperson Emilio Rodas accredited 36 Cosmos drivers out of a total of 78 for complying with the strict new professional driving rules establish under Supreme Decree 420.
Cosmos can now operate on any route in the country expect for the Cochabamba-Santa Cruz route where one of their caused a fatal accident when he was four times over the legal alcohol limit and unlicensed. Rodas said, "We have finished the first stage of distributing national profesisonal driver's licenses to the Cosmos fleet executed by the Transit Authority, Identification, and our Vice-Ministry. Cosmos has presented its paperwork and this has been processed by the police. Cosmos is now authorized to operate in the entire country except the Cochabamba-Santa Cruz route."
Rodas indicated that passengers should ask to see their driver's professional license which must have the driver's personal information, legal representative, technical information of the bus company, addresses and telephone numbers. Cosmos director René Cruz expressed his happiness with this result saying, "We were very worried because we thought that the suspension was indefinite. We thank the government for this authorization." Cruz indicated that permission to operate the Cochabamba-Santa Cruz route is in the Vice-Minister's hands.
Similar authorization was also presented to the companies Copacabana and Cochabamba which recently had caused high-fatality crashes.
The government approved Supreme Decree 420 last Wednesday after a 24-year old unlicensed Cosmos driver killed five and injured 43 because he and his assistants were completely drunk. The new law suspends the license of convicted drunk drivers for life and sanctions bus company owners. This measure against drunk driving has been rejected by the Confederation of Professional Drivers who are promising a nation-wide road block beginning next Tuesday.
To learn more in Spanish see:
http://www.erbol.com.bo/noticia.php?identificador=2147483923696
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