[Dippy]

Tata Motors along with its subsidary company TELCON has opened the State Institute for Automotive and Driving Skills (SIADS) in Punjab. Some highlights:

• The institute has been set up in an area of 14 acres. The Punjab state government has invested about Rs. 15 crores towards creating a modern complex, testing track, computerised driving test and hostel facilities, besides providing the land and infrastructure.
• Tata Motors and TELCON have invested about Rs. 2.75 crores in providing support in the form of designing course content, technical assistance and know-how, guidance, vehicles and earth moving equipment, training aggregates and teaching aids.
• The training aims at developing the right attitude for safe driving and road safety among learners. The Department of Technical Education and Industrial Training of the state government has provided instructors for all the Industrial Training courses. The institute is being operated and maintained by a Society set up for the purpose, and will be self sustaining.

The institute has already started training drivers for heavy and light commercial vehicles, buses, passenger cars, OTR vehicles, earth moving equipment, and also technical training related to trades such as auto mechanics, welding, painting, electrical, electronics and air-conditioning since the last four months. Each batch in a trade has a capacity to accommodate around 32 learners and the module is designed for 1-2 years depending on the trade whereas for the driving training, the duration ranges upto 3 months.

Tata intends to set up similar driving training institutes in other states in association with the respective state governments.

I think this is a good initiative by Tata. Proper training from the right people will help get better drivers on the roads plus hopefully see lesser accidents in the future. And its good to see that it is not restricted only to cars, buses etc but others like the earth moving vehicles. The technical training courses being offfered will also be useful. Hope that the institutes in the other states also open soon.

[aargee]

Source - Tata group | Tata Motors | Media releases | Chief minister of Punjab inaugurates Tata Motors supported State Institute of Automotive and Driving Skill=
This is a very good move & well appreciated move from Tata. This one small step from Tata, I hope will show a significance improvement on the roads. Wish this should be expanded across this country.

[GTO]

I think this is a good initiative by Tata. Proper training from the right people will help get better drivers on the roads plus hopefully see lesser accidents in the future. And its good to see that it is not restricted only to cars, buses etc but others like the earth moving vehicles. The technical training courses being offfered will also be useful. Hope that the institutes in the other states also open soon.

+1 to that! Proper driving training is all the more crucial to operators of heavy commercial vehicles, as a small error on their part can wipe out a passenger car entirely. I guess even Maruti runs driver training schools; that also is a step in the right direction.

It's great to see the OEMs invest in safety initiatives. What the RTO cannot do (driving test? Sure!), its up to the private sector to correct.

P.S. : Wasn't Volvo the first in India to offer driver training? IIRC, it was offered free to customers of the HCVs. Don't remember the last time I saw a badly driven Volvo truck!