Driving schools are in for a major overhaul once the state government notifies the Centre’s new guidelines, aiming to make training scientific and systematic.
Issuing the guidelines for Driving Training Centres (DTCs), the Centre said a causative analysis of various road accident studies carried out in the past showed that majority of them happen due to the driver’s fault.
"A report of the year 2019 indicates that 78 per cent of all road accidents were due to the fault of drivers," it said.
Though the Central Motor Vehicle Rules have laid down the guidelines to ensure good driving skills and knowledge of road regulations, there is an urgent need to train both existing and aspiring drivers.
The new rules will set standards and monitor training to facilitate a system where a driving licence is issued based on the objective scientific process that tests skills.
The accredited Driving Training Centres will be vested with functions like testing of aspirants for the issue of DL and make DTCs a commercially viable business proposition.
The new guidelines call for those who establish training centres to have adequate infrastructure, from separate utilities for men and women to all-weather access roads, besides adopting a uniform curriculum for training to reduce accidents, which annually kill more than 1.5 lakh people in the country.
The DTC should have a website showing a training calendar, working hours and days, lists of trained persons, details of instructors and other information. A portal should also be in place to allow prospective trainees to apply online, pay fees and book slots.
While the Centre will not provide any grant, DTCs can raise funds from the corporate sector or other state/central government schemes.
The DTC must submit an annual performance report to the Regional Transport Office. The RTO can cancel the accreditation certificate at any time if the DTC is not complying with the rules.
Published 12 August 2021, 19:04 IST