[NiXTriX2004]

The Centre is planning to make driving tests stricter with a computer judging your driving skill. I thought computers were already being used during driving tests. It is high time this is adopted.

Obtaining a driving license could get tougher as the Centre is planning to make driving tests “stricter” with a computer judging your driving skill. I thought that computers were already being used to assess driving skill.

“The existing driving tests are very flimsy,” an official close to the development told Moneycontrol. “We’ll make these tests stricter”.

He said that the government wanted to make these tests “more transparent and IT-based”.

The official said that computer-based system would allow only “competent divers” to obtain the licence and bring down the “bogus” licenses to zero.

“If there is no human intervention, the quality of drivers will be better,” said the official.
He said that once the new system is rolled out, an automated camera or sensor will assist the entire driving process of the candidate.

“From start to end, the entire driving system is assisted through IT system,” he said.

He said that the sensor shall examine a candidate’s driving skills, record his driving, make note of his mistakes, if any, and give out the result at the end of the process.

“Any corrupt officer shall have no say in the entire process,” he said.

The official said that Centre wants to clean the transport sector by plugging various loopholes in the policy.

He said that by making the entire test fully-automated and linking Aadhaar with licenses, the government wants to stitch the entire vehicular sector together.

“This linking of Aadhaar with the licence is required so that no two or more licenses are issued under one name,” he said. “This will save the drivers from procedural hassles involved with state-based licenses”.

Experts believe that sensor based driving test would need amendments in the rules pertaining to driving test, in the absence of which, the system might fail.

“There are 26 different requirements for a driving test under Rule 15 (of Motor Vehicles Act). These requirements can’t be checked using sensors,” said an official from Driving Skill Institute and Research (DSIR), a think-tank for governments to check driving regulations and implementation.

“Even if you use sensors on closed tracks, the given requirements and a driver’s sense of judgment can’t be checked,” he said.

He said that sensors could be successful if they are fitted inside the car, on tracks, and on towers to check how well informed a person is about the clutch and break system along with testing the person's sense of judgment on the road.

Source

[jayantvs]

Originally Posted by NiXTriX2004

The Centre is planning to make driving tests stricter with a computer judging your driving skill. I thought computers were already being used during driving tests. It is high time this is adopted.

Though this is a welcome move, but I believe there are already a few RTOs using sensors or similar technique to test the driving skills. See the below article which mentions an RTO in Bangalore using a digital test.
http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/banga...ng-test-429800

Apart from making the driving tests stricter, the authorities should also take steps towards standardizing the driving schools and trainers which is the starting step. Only accredited training institutes/trainers should be authorized to train new drivers and make them adopt better methods of training. This could result in higher training costs though!!

[sushantr5]

I think it is wrong way to address this problem. Already this technique is being used but it is failing to stop malpractices. One of my friends wife failed driving test which was monitored by sensors. But driving school buggers managed the results at database level and result changed to Pass.

Sensor will only monitors wheels are following the decided path but it can not determine the behavior of driver during various conditions. This requires human being to monitor but in India it is impossible to make RTO person honest. We have real problem in the honesty/corruption instead of fixing this we want to make everything Digital. But this is another problem. If we are really serious then I think following should be the way to fix the system...

1. Bring Driving schools on the platform. Person who is going to get driving license has to go through mandatory theory and practical training hours.

2. Theory exam, make it digital. Test knowledge of rules and test behavior of driver in different situations in Theory. Use video questions and get the answer from the person who is giving exam. In Germany there is really good theory exam which has fixed set 1000 questions. It covers almost everything. People appearing for exam gets trained on the Mobile App.

3. Now the trickiest part. There should be actual practical test which should at least last for 45 minutes. Record in Car Video of driving test for monitoring for malpractices.

4. All these things come at cost. Hike the fees to support this infrastructure. Driving License need not to be cheap, not at least like current fees like rs.200-300. It should cost at least 3000 to 4000 (Only RTO fees ) or lot more than that.


Current driving licenses should be made invalid in 5-8 years. Every existing license holder needs to get new license after giving Theory Exam Only.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by sushantr5

4. All these things come at cost. Hike the fees to support this infrastructure. Driving License need not to be cheap, not at least like current fees like rs.200-300. It should cost at least 3000 to 4000 (Only RTO fees ) or lot more than that.

I think 200-500 is good enough to support that infrastructure. Remember that we are talking of a more or less one time investment with maintenance while the number of consumers applying for license is in thousands per week in most RTOs.

Moreover - we are paying thousands to millions of rupees as "RTO Charges" when buying new cars. Isn't that a good amount of money in their kitty already? What do they do with it? Just make an entry in a virtually disconnected system of very little use for the common man. Hardly do they ensure that the engine / chassis number that they registered, has not been stolen / being re-registered with a new entry. Nobody cares. So its pretty much easy money. This HAS to be used for us - the tax payers.

While the points you mentioned are ideal - they will generally fit well with western countries with very low or moderate population density. For the population density vs number of RTOs available - these are not realistic to implement.

What is really needed - and it applies to absolutely all services in this great nation - is to bring the number of service centers / government offices to numbers such that they can properly serve a limited number of people that fall in their area. Its the foundation that is broken with a few tens of offices serving millions of people. Just like the passport for example. Till this issue remains - use all kinds of sensors & it will not create good license holders.

[Deep Blue]

Most of our RTOs in tier 2 cities downwards don't even have properly paved and marked test tracks. Driving tests are conducted in some empty ground. If Tier 1 cities do have such tracks, they are grossly inadequate for the given population.
Are the roads in our cities and towns properly marked? No. Are traffic rules strictly implemented? No.
This is simply building castles on crumbling or non existent foundations.
Government should first focus on getting the basic necessities first.

[NiXTriX2004]

Originally Posted by Deep Blue

Most of our RTOs in tier 2 cities downwards don't even have properly paved and marked test tracks. Driving tests are conducted in some empty ground. If Tier 1 cities do have such tracks, they are grossly inadequate for the given population.

This is the case in most tier 1 cities also. There are no dedicated test tracks in most places. Since real estate is a problem in the cities, having a computer simulated test makes more sense as it is safer and varied scenarios can be tested.

Originally Posted by Deep Blue

Are the roads in our cities and towns properly marked? No. Are traffic rules strictly implemented? No.
This is simply building castles on crumbling or non existent foundations.
Government should first focus on getting the basic necessities first.

This is a bit of a chicken and egg situation. Do people follow or even know what the markings mean? Do people know what the traffic rules are to follow them? A license is valid for 15 years IIRC. The rules are bound to change drastically during this time duration. Is there a place where I can look into and learn all the existing rules if I am so inclined?

There is no use having 10000 rules if no one knows what they are. And it is not possible to implement them without having cooperation from the public.
You can still implement stricter licensing and stringent tests while developing the infrastructure. Afterall, we don't want a situation where we have 12 lane expressways with people driving on opposite side of the road.

[Deep Blue]

Originally Posted by NiXTriX2004

This is a bit of a chicken and egg situation. Do people follow or even know what the markings mean? Do people know what the traffic rules are to follow them? A license is valid for 15 years IIRC. The rules are bound to change drastically during this time duration. Is there a place where I can look into and learn all the existing rules if I am so inclined?

There is no use having 10000 rules if no one knows what they are. And it is not possible to implement them without having cooperation from the public.
You can still implement stricter licensing and stringent tests while developing the infrastructure. Afterall, we don't want a situation where we have 12 lane expressways with people driving on opposite side of the road.

The chicken and egg situation wouldn't have arisen if in the last 70yrs since independence, RTOs had built any testing infrastructure across the country. If it had done so, people would have been aware of the 10000 rules.
In 15 yrs, very little changes in India. We are still stuck on what British left us with 70yrs ago and thanks to them we at least have that.
If computer simulated driving tests can change that , I am all for it.
I do wish they teach traffic rules and such other life skills in school as curriculum instead of three languages.