Your driving test to get virtual from Jan

Starting January, your driving test at the Regional Transport Office (RTO) will get more challenging. The state transport department and RTO will install virtual simulators to test the driving skills of a person who applies for a license, reports Shashank Rao.

Starting January, your driving test at the Regional Transport Office (RTO) will get more challenging.

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The state transport department and RTO will install virtual simulators to test the driving skills of a person who applies for a license. Hindustan Times had reported on this proposal on November 18.

The simulator will test the driver’s skills in life-like situations like rain and bad roads. The RTO hopes this test would bring down the rate of accidents. “We are aiming to introduce virtual simulators at Mumbai Central RTO during the ‘Road Safety Week’ in the first week of January,” said a senior RTO official requesting anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

“We will fix the date [of introducing the simulator] after completion of civil work for the separate hall for keeping the virtual simulator,” said C Sontakke, RTO officer (city), Mumbai Central RTO.

The Western India Automobile Association (WIAA) will import the Rs 14-lakh software for the simulator from Europe. “It will be a tamper-free software and only the driving instructor will be able to make changes to it,” said Nitin Dossa, president, WIAA.

All licence applicants will have to go through the orientation test for a fee of Rs 50.

The transport department aims to install these simulators for all 14 RTOs in the state.