Poor diligence while granting driving licences is costing lives on Maharashtra roads, say experts

Lack of proper diligence while granting driving licence and inadequate law enforcement were resulting in a high number of road fatalities in Maharashtra experts saidAccording to the data shared by the Maharashtra transport department 9724 per cent of 3204 lakh citizens who applied for driving licences had passed the tests while only 24 per cent failed and 036 per cent did not turn upAmong the 50 regional transport offices RTOs in Maharashtra 14 had a failure rate of less than 1 per cent among driving test applicants while only six had a failure rate of more than 5 per cent the data saidWhat is more serious is that in some RTO offices the failure rate was below 050 per cent and a few had it more than 78 per centExperts say it is difficult to understand how so many drivers were passing driving tests considering the alarming number of accidents on state roadsWith each passing day we hear of horrific road crashes that claim lives of innocent people The process of issuing driving licences needs to be improved to be able to critically assess the safe driving skills of applicants This will ensure only skilled drivers are granted licences said Ajay Gowale project director of United Way Mumbai NGODriving tests are conducted by RTOs to assess an individuals driving skills and knowledge of traffic rules and regulations However before taking the driving test applicants have to acquire a learning licence which is valid for six monthsInterestingly compared to driving licence tests the failure rate of learning licence tests was high in 2022 the transport departments records revealedOut of 1880 lakh applicants for learning licences in 2022 923 per cent 173 lakh had failed the test it statedAlso ReadIIT Bombay suicide case Special court grants bail to arrested studentAs per the accident data shared by the transport department at least 14883 people were killed and 27218 injured in 33069 road crashes that occurred in the state last yearExperts have alleged that the driving test is considered a mere formality at most RTOs and a permanent driving licence is granted without properly testing driving skills Such a low failure rate only highlights the need for a comprehensive overhaul of the systemEvery poor driver once added to the streets is a threat to himself and others Lakhs of such drivers will be on roads for decades to come said Ranjit Gadgil project director of NGO Parisar from PuneHe further said that it will be impossible for India to halve its road crash fatalities and injuries by 50 per cent by 2025 as declared by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari or even by 2030 with unsafe and unqualified driversSpeaking on the issue Vijaykumar Duggal the director of 3A Road Safety Foundation said as per rule 15 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules CMVR RTO officers must test applicants on 24 parameters including adjusting mirrors and seat position taking precautions before starting the engine and signalling while taking a turnThe driving licence competence DLC test sheet is automatically generated by the Union governments Parivahan system for each applicant The RTO inspector conducting the test should fill the sheet and upload it but in Maharashtra they neither note if all 24 parameters are checked nor upload it on the system Duggal claimed adding that this lax approach is one of the reasons for the rise in road accidentsA retired RTO official cited that unlike the existing smart card licences the back page of the old licences used to come with the message driving is a privilege and not a rightHence driving licences shouldnt be granted to incompetent drivers to save lives on roads he saidMaharashtra transport commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar said motor vehicle inspectors conduct driving tests and candidates pass or fail based on their judgmentTo do away with the human judgment element automatic test driving tracks are being developed Presently one such track has been set up in Pune and tenders will be issued for 18 others soon the official saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever