A hero of road safety: Petrus 'Mr P One Time' Haufiku
Driving instructors or tutors do far more than simply teach novices how to steer, use the clutch and check mirrors. They are frontline safety educators who translate thick and complex traffic ordinance books into practical habits, coax anxious learners onto busy roads, and ultimately shape the attitudes with which new drivers join the public driving realm.
A good instructor needs technical mastery, clear communication skills and, when necessary, the ability to be firm – every lesson carries life-or-death stakes, not only for the learner but for everyone who will one day share the road with them.
Few Namibian instructors embody that responsibility more energetically than Petrus 'Mr P One Time' Haufiku, whose strict-but-spirited approach has earned him both a full client list in Walvis Bay and a growing national following online.
From village paths to coastal highways
Raised in the village of Eshakeno, 10 km from Okongo in the Ohangwena region, Mr P’s route to the coast was anything but straight. After primary school at Onhumba Combined and secondary studies at Ondobe and Oshela, he enrolled at the International University of Management, graduating in 2018 with an honours degree in travel, tourism, hospitality and event management.
Tourism jobs came quickly – Sandwich Harbour 4×4 guiding, catamaran trips, airport shuttles and vehicle maintenance for a local lodge – but the pay seldom matched the workload. Within months of each appointment, he resigned, unwilling to trade long hours for low wages.
Meanwhile, a different opportunity was idling in his driveway.
Using a student-loan refund, Mr P had bought a modest car “just to flex”, only to find classmates queuing to borrow it for their licence tests. To cover petrol, he charged N$60 per practice hour and N$250 for test-day use, watching nearly every borrower pass. The side hustle grew faster than any tourism post, and by the time he quit his last lodge job, the phone was ringing more for lessons than for charter bookings.
Driving instruction became his full-time job.
A personal mission for safer roads
The decision was also deeply personal. Mr P’s own early training had been expensive, careless, and, in his words, “dangerous”.
Three crashes, three write-offs, and a licence suspended minutes after issuance because he celebrated by drifting in the parking lot convinced him that too many schools merely coach students to pass, not to drive safely.
“I could operate a vehicle,” he recalls, “but my attitude could kill someone.” Determined to change that culture, he built a syllabus that drills hazard anticipation, defensive space management, and attitude as relentlessly as clutch control.
Today, after twelve years in Walvis Bay, Mr P’s classroom stretches far beyond the passenger seat. His TikTok page offering free tips to learners and fellow instructors nationwide turns mirror-check routines and parallel-parking demos into viral public-safety clips. Followers praise his blunt style; critics call him “too strict”, even “rude”, but he shrugs: “Better a bruised ego in training than a broken bone on the road.”
From village gravel tracks to coastal highways, Mr P One Time’s outlook reminds us why driving tutors matter. They are not mere gatekeepers to a laminated card; they are architects of road behaviour. And when an instructor demands excellence, whether through patient encouragement or firm correction, every future motorist, passenger and pedestrian benefits.
Mr P’s own story, rich with wrong turns and hard lessons, proves that great tutors don’t just teach you how to pass the test. They teach you how to pass every journey that follows safely, confidently and with respect for the lives moving beside you.
A good instructor needs technical mastery, clear communication skills and, when necessary, the ability to be firm – every lesson carries life-or-death stakes, not only for the learner but for everyone who will one day share the road with them.
Few Namibian instructors embody that responsibility more energetically than Petrus 'Mr P One Time' Haufiku, whose strict-but-spirited approach has earned him both a full client list in Walvis Bay and a growing national following online.
From village paths to coastal highways
Raised in the village of Eshakeno, 10 km from Okongo in the Ohangwena region, Mr P’s route to the coast was anything but straight. After primary school at Onhumba Combined and secondary studies at Ondobe and Oshela, he enrolled at the International University of Management, graduating in 2018 with an honours degree in travel, tourism, hospitality and event management.
Tourism jobs came quickly – Sandwich Harbour 4×4 guiding, catamaran trips, airport shuttles and vehicle maintenance for a local lodge – but the pay seldom matched the workload. Within months of each appointment, he resigned, unwilling to trade long hours for low wages.
Meanwhile, a different opportunity was idling in his driveway.
Using a student-loan refund, Mr P had bought a modest car “just to flex”, only to find classmates queuing to borrow it for their licence tests. To cover petrol, he charged N$60 per practice hour and N$250 for test-day use, watching nearly every borrower pass. The side hustle grew faster than any tourism post, and by the time he quit his last lodge job, the phone was ringing more for lessons than for charter bookings.
Driving instruction became his full-time job.
A personal mission for safer roads
The decision was also deeply personal. Mr P’s own early training had been expensive, careless, and, in his words, “dangerous”.
Three crashes, three write-offs, and a licence suspended minutes after issuance because he celebrated by drifting in the parking lot convinced him that too many schools merely coach students to pass, not to drive safely.
“I could operate a vehicle,” he recalls, “but my attitude could kill someone.” Determined to change that culture, he built a syllabus that drills hazard anticipation, defensive space management, and attitude as relentlessly as clutch control.
Today, after twelve years in Walvis Bay, Mr P’s classroom stretches far beyond the passenger seat. His TikTok page offering free tips to learners and fellow instructors nationwide turns mirror-check routines and parallel-parking demos into viral public-safety clips. Followers praise his blunt style; critics call him “too strict”, even “rude”, but he shrugs: “Better a bruised ego in training than a broken bone on the road.”
From village gravel tracks to coastal highways, Mr P One Time’s outlook reminds us why driving tutors matter. They are not mere gatekeepers to a laminated card; they are architects of road behaviour. And when an instructor demands excellence, whether through patient encouragement or firm correction, every future motorist, passenger and pedestrian benefits.
Mr P’s own story, rich with wrong turns and hard lessons, proves that great tutors don’t just teach you how to pass the test. They teach you how to pass every journey that follows safely, confidently and with respect for the lives moving beside you.
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