India’s road network has seen a tremendous growth in the past decade. As of 2023, it has become the second largest road network in the world (6.75 lakh km). According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), in 2022, a total of 4,61,312 road accidents have been reported, claiming 1,68,491 lives and caused injuries to 4,43,366 persons. Among the multiple factors, driver error has been consistently reported as a significant contributor of road crashes. The MoRTH road accident report 2022 on road accidents in India mentions ‘human error’ as an umbrella term which includes traffic rule violations, non-use of safety devices and other aspects of safe behaviour.
Apart from designing safer roads, safer vehicles are equally pertinent to address the issue. Advent of several active and passive safety features have greatly contributed to the reduction in fatalities and crashes.
To address the human factors aspects, the Centre of Excellence for Road Safety (CoERS) at IIT Madras, has taken an initiative to provide experiential and sustained learning for impressionable future adults on best practices through an influencer who forms a large part of their engagement time with roads, i.e., drivers who commute with them to school and college.
CoERS, with a committed vision of building safe driving population, have also proposed the 3-Gate Licensing system (3GL), an improved licensing process which compels the new licence takers to imbibe the road regulations and to adhere to road rules while driving. Although, this new system is promising in making the new drivers safety-centric, the question of improving the existing driving population still lingers. To address this caveat, CoERS conceptualised the “Theory to Simulator” based driver training program called Training of Drivers (TOD).
Training of Drivers (TOD) relies on simulator-based training session with an emphasis on “Unlearn, Relearn and Retain” as opposed to classroom-based sessions. The program is designed to unlearn the unsafe driving practices, relearn the best driving practices and retain the rules to become a skilled defensive driver.
The training of the drivers was flagged of by Shri Shankar Jiwal, Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai Police and Professor V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras as part of the National Scientific Road Safety Conclave (NSRSC) held on 11 October 2022 at IIT Madras. (Read more)
Further, an MoU was signed between CoERS and SNS Foundation, HL Mando Anand India Limited (HLMAIL) on 1 March 2023 towards the development of a simulator-based system to train drivers and nurture ideas in the field of road safety.
Over 2,000 drivers were trained in Chennai and adjoining districts and the report on the training of these influencers was launched by Shri Shankar Jiwal, Director General of Police, Tamil Nadu Police, Professor V Kamakoti, Driector, IIT Madras and Shri S Sarathi, Joint MD, HL Mando Anand India Limited on 31 July 2022. (Read more)
