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View Poll Results: Should the Indian driving licence be made easier or tougher to get?
Easier to get than what it is now 3 2.91%
Tougher to get, with very stringent testing 97 94.17%
The present system of getting a driving licence is just fine 3 2.91%
Voters: 103. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 3rd September 2014, 21:02   #16
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re: Should the Indian Driving Licence be easier or tougher to get?

Quote:
Originally Posted by amitoj View Post
The article talks about emulating the process that is followed in UK.
Quote:
"The UK took 15 years to put this in practice, we cannot do it overnight but efforts are on"
In which case we need to be extremely patient in our hopes of getting better drivers on our roads...
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Old 3rd September 2014, 21:20   #17
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re: Should the Indian Driving Licence be easier or tougher to get?

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Originally Posted by SS-Traveller View Post
In which case we need to be extremely patient in our hopes of getting better drivers on our roads...
I'll consider myself lucky if my grand-kids have saner drivers to share our roads with, that is if I ever survive these maniacs so the grand-kids will actually exist someday.


Jokes apart, we've made this mess over decades and won't fix it in a few months (or even years). If there was a 'quick-fix, stays forever' solution to this (or any) problem, it would already be in place. One can still hope for the future though.

Last edited by Chetan_Rao : 3rd September 2014 at 21:22.
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Old 4th September 2014, 19:22   #18
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re: Should the Indian Driving Licence be easier or tougher to get?

If education / awareness is what is a solution to improve traffic habits, which we lack desperately, the best time to provide it is before obtaining a license. Afterwards, most of the public care two hoots about what they are educated on.

Obtaining a license to drive around the nation should invoke a feeling of pride, especially towards the nation who provides it / allows us. It should never be got for any peanuts.
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Old 5th September 2014, 17:01   #19
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re: Should the Indian Driving Licence be easier or tougher to get?

Procedure for attaining Indian driving license should be standardized across all states preferably modelling after the method adopted in Kerala. I personally have a DL from Kerala state and I am impressed with the high bench marks set for procuring a DL.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sgiitk View Post
I will vote for the French pattern. Let the Driving Schools certify, and regulate them very tightly.
Sir, sorry I have a different opinion; due respect to you. I think an independent body should continue to certify driving skills. With the present demographics in India, it will be highly difficult , say near impossibility to do a regulation if driving schools were to certify themselves. Driving schools might also highlight their success rates to attract new entrants into their school.

I think driving in India is a talent. No wonder why few countries like the US, Great Britain, Germany France etc have considered Indian license valid for a certain period of time.

Now, I do have concerns over renewal procedures of licenses in India especially over the vision tests. Renewal seems to a walk in the park.
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Old 8th September 2014, 22:55   #20
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Re: Should the Indian Driving Licence be easier or tougher to get?

Gentlemen, in your opinion, what should be the qualifications and/or credentials and/or extent of driving experience of the person who is authorized to take your driving test?
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Old 9th September 2014, 10:45   #21
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Re: Should the Indian Driving Licence be easier or tougher to get?

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Originally Posted by SS-Traveller View Post
Gentlemen, in your opinion, what should be the qualifications and/or credentials and/or extent of driving experience of the person who is authorized to take your driving test?
Good question.
Let me start with an explanation of the process in the run up towards my opinion. (My explanation is based on the steps that I remember to have been in place in kerala)

Part 1 - Obtaining Learner's License.
The first part of test to acquire driving license is to clear the written test which is more theoretical in nature. RTO officials irrespective of their driving experience are good enough to conduct this test simply because the answers to theory test is binary, meaning either the answer is correct or wrong. so this being a well predefined step of evaluation, it doesn't really matter whether the evaluators in reality are experienced drivers. They are employees of RTO doing their job.

Part 2 - Vehicle control test
For 4 wheelers, one should clear the 'H' and for 2 wheelers, one should clear the '8'. For this test, actually the parameter to judge is fairly simple - meaning the evaluators need to only find answers (yes / no) to the questions - has the vehicle touched any of the poles during the exercise, has the vehicle stopped, Is there unwanted acceleration, has the person touched his foot on the ground (in case of two wheeler while taking '8') Again, evaluation of this is also simple based on happening / not happening of the of the said errors. No one sits with you in the car and if the answer to any of the questions is a 'No' then it can be implied that you will have to re-appear. Hence, judging can happen only through observation which is fine.

Part 3 - On the road driving test
A police officer will accompany you for driving the car on the road. He will not advise you nor correct you, instead his duty is to observe and report compliance of certain set requirements. few examples - whether you are wearing seat belts or not, whether car has all rear view mirrors, are you giving proper signals, having the 'L' sign on your vehicle, etc. Also, the inspector can ask you to stop the car and then take it again, or ask you to halt on an uphill and move again to check if the vehicle rolls back or no. Again, the evaluator is trying to find out answers to few closed ended questions.

15 years back when I had appeared for my driving test, I had seen a two wheeler motorist who rode till the venue, he didn't clear the '8' so he took his bike and rode off. Was he a bad rider? - No. Does it really matter whether the evaluator had adequate experience? - No. Its just that the candidate didn't meet one criteria.

To conclude, the possibility of one getting a driving license is purely based on compliance of set requirements. Hence I think it doesn't matter whether the evaluators of driving test are expert drivers or not, what is more important is they should have a decent understanding of driving plus a high ethical sense in complying with the rules of qualification of an individual.
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Old 9th September 2014, 12:56   #22
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Re: Should the Indian Driving Licence be easier or tougher to get?

I voted to make the obtaining of a driving license tougher. And my response is based on anecdotal evidence.

If one looks at the history of the driving license obtaining process/pre-requisites in Europe, then this pattern emerges.
In the beginning, there were very very few cars and only the really rich could afford them. So, driver licensing was as simple as "go to post office fill up form pay fees get license". Car ownership was a "club".
Slowly, over time, car ownership trickled down the economic strata. Over a period of 50-60 years or so, everybody could afford to own or drive a car. During this time, the driving license procedures and pre-requisites were tightened. So now we have stringent norms and long drawn out process. See http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...xperience.html
It all goes to ensure that everybody using the road understands and conforms to certain norms of behaviour and abides by the rules.

In India, things seem to have gone backwards. 40 years ago, as a norm, getting a DL meant that you really had to demonstrate competence as a driver. Today, the norm is "give prevailing rate of bribe via driving school get license". Two generations of Indians, post 1991 or so, are now using the roads without ever being aware that certain rules/norms of behaviour apply. And today's kids are learning the same behaviour from them because they are now parents.
We have democratised car ownership without ensuring that car usage behaviour is taught & evaluated strictly.

Last edited by KiloAlpha : 9th September 2014 at 12:58. Reason: Link to another thread added
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Old 9th September 2014, 12:58   #23
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Re: Should the Indian Driving Licence be easier or tougher to get?

It should neither be too easy to get, not be too difficult to get, it needs to be just right. EVERYTHING needs to be tested the way it should be and more importantly it should be very transparent. For now, if you go through a driving school, you are hardly asked anything, and sometimes there is no test involved either.
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Old 10th September 2014, 11:30   #24
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Re: Should the Indian Driving Licence be easier or tougher to get?

In my opinion, procedure of obtaining license should be tough, and by tough I mean that license should be given to a person after verifying that he/she has the basic knowledge of following parameters.

I Basic knowledge of the car, for example:

1.0 Purpose of IRVM and ORVM.
2.0 Awareness about using seat belts.
3.0 Purpose of rear defogger.
4.0 How to avoid fogging of front windscreen, etc.

II Basic road etiquettes, for example:

1.0 Use of mirrors while turning, entering/exiting a lane.
2.0 Use of proper signals.
3.0 Right of way while entering/exiting a roundabout.
3.0 Right of way while joining a main road from a by-lane and vice-versa.
4.0 Lane discipline.
5.0 How to park properly.
6.0 How to avoid roll back while starting the vehicle parked on incline, etc.

Based on my personal experience, procedure of obtaining driving license in the UAE is very good. They teach you the rules to be followed on road, make you fully aware of the basic functionality of the car. Some people call it overtly strict, but IMHO following a strict procedure helps in putting better drivers on the road.
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Old 7th April 2018, 14:57   #25
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Re: Should the Indian Driving Licence be easier or tougher to get?

Six months back, my 18 years old cousin, asked me to help him to do some practice of driving for the Driving licence test.

I was like, practice for Driving Licence test! Really?

Actually, It was me only, who taught him driving and he learnt it well. He was literally scared of DL test drive. We actually did some practice of driving, starting/ stopping on a slope and drawing an "8". After that driving practice, he explained me about driving test and written test for a new DL. It was new for me( I got my DL in 2001) and I must say it was well designed.

IMHO, DL must be tougher to get, with very stringent testing for a newbie.
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