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The former Queenstown Driving Test Centre was Singapore’s second driving test centre. It was officially opened on 23 February 1969 by then Minister for Communications, Yong Nyuk Lin, to alleviate the workload of testers at Maxwell Driving Test Centre and relieve the traffic congestion along Maxwell Road. The Queenstown Driving Test Centre also replaced the Maxwell centre in providing tests for applicants of vocational licenses to operate buses and taxis.
The state-of-the-art Queenstown Driving Test Centre was a spacious ground-level building which had 14 testers to conduct a daily average of 150 tests on driving proficiency, and another 150 on the Highway Code. Doris Koh (b. 1951) completed the Highway Code and obtained her provisional license from the centre. She recalled, “Unlike the theory tests conducted in driving centres today, candidates had to move a miniature-sized car on a model in response to questions asked by the tester. For instance, if the tester asked the candidate for the proper procedure to stop a car at pedestrian crossings, the candidate had to manually ‘slow down’ the speed of the ‘car’ before the ‘pedestrian crossing’ in the model.”
By the late 1980s, three more driving test circuits were constructed in Ang Mo Kio, Jurong and Bukit Batok. These new test circuits were equipped with modern facilities which allowed learner drivers to drive “under all kinds of conditions”. In 1995, the Queenstown Driving Test Centre ceased operations and its premises were taken over by Queenstown Neighbourhood Police Centre in 1997. In 2005, the Neighbourhood Police Centre relocated to a brand new complex at Queensway.
