The Motor Vehicle Act is in the news for the revisions it contains. Also in the news is the thought of doing away with educational qualifications for drivers to tackle acute shortage of CV drivers. The need for education is replaced with the need to train them in the art of driving trucks and buses; in the ability (and knowledge) to read road signs among other necessities. With the current breed of educated CV drivers unable to read or acknowledge signs on the road, which state that the respective lane is reserved for cars, the thought of training against little or no educational background may turn the road into an even dangerous place. In the absence of a strong will to implement the road rules and curb practices like trucks keeping to the overtaking lane or who has the first right in a roundabout, making stringent laws or hiking fines is not the answer. It could lie in formal education in road manners, road design, knowledge of laws and rules, and the will to exercise them. The pipe dream of zero or minimal accidents is likely to stay exactly that, a pipe dream.

“The thought of training against little or no educational background may turn the road into an even dangerous place”.

Bhushan Mhapralkar

b.mhapralkar@nextgenpublishing.net