Beijingers have flocked to register for driving lessons before April 1, when driving schools will raise their course fees by almost 10 percent.

The Ministry of Public Security said that from next month, all driving schools must add seven hours of instruction time to the current 79 hours.

The new regulation is meant to improve the skills of new drivers on the city's increasingly crowded roads.

The number of cars in Beijing has increased by 800,000, to 4.17 million, and the number of new drivers has risen by 1 million, to 5.81 million, since the beginning of 2009, according to the traffic management bureau.

The bureau had previously expressed concerns about the rapid increase in new drivers, saying it was a major cause of accidents.

The extra hours will increase the cost of lessons and many Beijingers seemed eager to sign up before the higher rates take effect.

"The lines were always busy when I dialed several driving schools today," said Li Jie, a college student wanting to register for lessons. "I guess people all want to rush before the price rise."

But they may already be too late as several schools had taken action.

Staff at the Shoufeng Driving School said it would raise its prices starting on Friday. The cost for a course on driving a manual shift sedan will rise from 3,180 yuan to 3,380 yuan.

At Beijing North Driving Training School, the same course costs 4,200 yuan, but will rise to 4,500 yuan by the end of this month, according to staff at the school.

Haidian Driving School, one of the largest in the city, said it had already raised the price of its manual shift sedan course by around 300 yuan, to 3,900 yuan, in the middle of March, so probably won't raise it again, despite making the course longer.