Driving tests to get tougher

Driving tests for a permanent licence (DL) is all set to go hi-tech with the government planning to open four fully automated test tracks soon in Mayur Vihar, Vishwas Nagar, Shakurbasti and Sarai Kale Khan.

Driving tests for a permanent licence (DL) is all set to go hi-tech with the government planning to open four fully automated test tracks soon in Mayur Vihar, Vishwas Nagar, Shakurbasti and Sarai Kale Khan.

Image for representation.(Photo: Anil Dayal /Hindustan Times)

The move, a much needed step in ensuring road safety in a city which has over 10 million registered vehicles, is significant as more than 1,600 driving licences are issued in the city daily. At present, tests for a permanent driving licence is conducted on the main road with usual traffic, where an applicant has to drive straight for less than a kilometre. An officer of the rank of licensing inspector manually marks the test taker, which the government says is not only an inaccurate method but is also unscientific resulting in an extremely abysmal failure rate.

The four automated driving test tracks that will be inaugurated on Wednesday will be the city’s first driving test schemes where an applicant will be marked on 24 skill sets. The tracks have a total of 10 different test patterns – seven for four wheelers and three for two-wheelers.

“Each track can have 250-300 tests a day. One driving test will take 10 minutes. Also, the tracks have been built in such a way that four tests can be safely conducted at the same time,” said a transport department official.

A test taker will need to reverse his car on S-shaped tracks, then drive uphill and also swerve at bends shaped like an ‘8’. He will also be judged on his behaviour as there are separate tracks to test decisions on over-taking and traffic junctions. All the moves and errors will be marked by sensors on bollards and CCTV cameras placed at a height of 20 feet. Two-wheeler riders will need to prove their riding skills in a ‘serpentine’ track. Those who are able to ride on the track without deviating from the marked lines and within a stipulated time will ‘pass’ the test.

The four centres are a part of the government’s target of setting up such tracks in each of the 12 motor licencing offices in Delhi. The remaining eight will be opened at a later stage. The office at Sarai Kale Khan has been operational for about a year and will be officially launched on Wednesday.

All these tracks are being built by Maruti Suzuki with no cost to the government as the private firm is undertaking the project as its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative.