Government may fix upper age bar for drivers of commercial vehicles

The decision is likely to trigger a controversy as currently, there is no upper age limit for driving vehicles or getting a driving licence in the country. (The minimum age to secure a licence is 18).

The Maharashtra government may fix an upper age limit for drivers holding commercial licence, as part of an effort to reduce road accidents. In a recent meeting, the State Road Safety Council headed by the state transport minister Diwakar Roate decided to conduct a study on fixing an upper age limit for drivers, till which they can safely drive a commercial vehicle such as truck, bus or taxi.

On an average, more than 35,000 road accidents occur in Maharashtra every year, killing more than 13,000 people and injuring around 35,000. (HT Photo)

The decision is likely to trigger a controversy as currently, there is no upper age limit for driving vehicles or getting a driving licence in the country. (The minimum age to secure a licence is 18). The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, only imposes a condition that licence issued to a person above 50 years of age has to be renewed every five years.

“After a certain age various health issues occur, which include weak eyesight. It affects the performance of a driver. Hence, we should a conduct a study if we can have an age limit for drivers of commercial vehicles,” Raote said in the meeting.

The meeting was held at Sahyadri guest house on May 27.

“The drivers of public transport undertakings retire at the age of 58-60 years. It is should be an ideal age (to retire) for all commercial drivers,” said an official present at the meeting.

Experts that HT spoke to were also not pleased with the idea. “Nowhere in the world have I heard of a maximum age limit for drivers,” said Vinayak Joshi, road safety trainer.

Going by the age-wise break up of road accidents that occurred in 2017, maximum lives were lost between the age group of 18- 35 and the least were in the over-60 group. “As long as the driver is fit, active and able to control the vehicle, he should be allowed to drive,” said Ashutosh Atrey, road safety expert.

A top Motor Vehicles Department official said such restrictions will lead to further shortage of commercial drivers. To fix this, the Centre has already amended a rule of Central Motor Vehicle Rules 1989, which said there must be two drivers for national permit vehicles. “The government has allowed to ply national permit vehicles with a single driver,” the official said.