The Hindu : Tracks for driving tests getting ready

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 07, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Tracks for driving tests getting ready

By Govind D. Belgaumkar

BANGALORE, MARCH 6. Passing a driving test is not going to be easy any more. From mid-March, applicants will have to prove their skills on "demanding" driving tracks which are coming up near the Wipro building on Tumkur Road at Peenya. Driving tests are now conducted on the roads near the offices of the Regional Transport Officers.

The tracks are being developed by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) on a design provided by the Transport Department.

Some of the tracks are in the form of the figure `8' and the alphabet `S', and negotiating them will not be easy for applicants who are not well-trained. There are also tracks to test whether an applicant can reverse a car and park it properly. There will be a gradient to test whether he or she can stop the car in the middle of an ascend and start again without the vehicle going backwards, says the Joint Transport Commissioner (Enforcement-South), C.R. Mohammed Suleman. The applicants also have to respond correctly to signboards, which are to be put up along the track, and show "hand signals".

Mr. Suleman says that the facility is coming up on 2.53 acres of land owned by the BMTC, which will collect a "user charge" from the applicants. The Transport Department has suggested to the Government to collect Rs. 25 from persons applying for licences to ride two- and three-wheelers, and Rs. 50 from those applying for four-wheeler driver's licence.

The BMTC plans to develop two more tracks for the Transport Department at Yelahanka and on Hosur Road where applicants for heavy-vehicle driver's licence too can take tests.

The department plans to fix the user charge at Rs. 100.

The Government has sought clarifications on the proposal to collect user charges, and a reply will be sent soon. The user charges will be collected only after the Government issues a notification.

Meanwhile, the tracks at Peenya will be used on a trial basis. To begin with, persons seeking driving licences from the Rajajinagar RTO will take tests at the tracks at Peenya, Mr. Suleman says. Later, applicants from the Yeshwantpur RTO may be tested there, he adds.

He is confident that the tracks will help improve the driving tests of applicants and contribute to making the roads safer.

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