TRAINING OF DRIVERS

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RAJYA SABHA

The total number of road accidents has been increasing over the years, keeping in view the increasing number of motor vehicles coming on the roads. However, as a result of various safety measures taken by the Government, the number of accidents per ten thousand vehicles has been steadily declining over the last few years. The details are given below :

Years	Total No. of registered motor vehicles (in thousands)	Total No. of road accidents (in number)	Number of road accidents per 10000 vehicles
1996	33786	371204	109.87
1997	37332	373671	100.09
1998	41368	385018	93.07
1999	44875	386456	86.12
2000	48393(P)*	391449	80.89(P)*

Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 prescribe standards suited to Indian conditions for training of drivers and these are comparable to international standards. Training of drivers is and important element of the road safety programmes undertaken by the Government and has contributed to the declining trend in accidents. In the current year financial assistance has been given by the Government to impart refresher training to approximately 19000 heavy vehicle drivers. The decline in trend of accidents is also due to other engineering, education and enforcement measures undertaken by the Government to improve road safety. Some of the other measures taken by the Government to improve road safety are as under :

1. About 15,750 drivers of heavy motor vehicles have been provided refresher training in the last Plan period.
2. Publicity campaigns on road safety awareness through audio-visual-print media.
3. Grants-in-aid is provided to voluntary organisations for administering road safety programmes.
4. Use of simulators in drivers’ training is encouraged.
5. National Award instituted for voluntary organisations/individuals for outstanding work in the field of road safety.
6. All India Essay Competition on road safety are organised for school children for creating awareness among the school children.
7. Fitness norms for transport vehicles have been tightened.
8. Widening/improvement of roads.

This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Road Transport and Highways, Major Gen. (Retd.) B.C. Khanduri in written reply to a question by Shri R. Kamraj in Rajya Sabha today.